An Epistolary Essay from M. G. to O. B. upon their Mutual Poems.
Dear Friend,
I Hear this
Town does so abound
With sawcy
Censurcrs, that faults are found
Which what of late we (in
Poetique rage)
Bestowing, threw away on the dull Age;
But (howsoe're
Envy, their spleens may raise,
To Rob my
Brows of the deserved
Bays)
Their thanks at least I merit, since through me,
They are partakers of your
Poetry:
And this is all I'le say in my defence,
T' obtain one Line of your well-worded sense,
I'd be content t' have writ the
Brittish Prince.
I'm none of those who think themselves inspir'd;
Nor write with the vain hope to be admir'd;
But from a
Rule I have (upon long tryal)
T' avoid with care all sort of self denyal.
Which way so'ere desire, and fancy lead,
(Contemning
Fame) that
Path I boldly tread;
And if exposing what I take for wit,
To my dear self a pleasure I beget,
No matter tho the cens'ring
Criticks fret.
These whom my
Muse displeases, are at strife,
With equal spleen against my course of life,
The least delight of which, I'll not forgo,
For all the flatt'ring praise,
Man can bestow.
[Page 4] If I design'd to please, the way were then,
To mend my Manners, rather than my
Pen:
The first's unnatural, therefore unfit,
And for the second, I despair of it,
Since Grace is not so hard to get as Wit.
Perhaps ill
Verses, ought to be confin'd
In meer good breeding like unsav'ry Wind:
Were reading forc'd, I shou'd be apt to think,
Men might no more write scurvily than stink:
But 'tis your choice, whether you'll read, or no,
If likewise of your smelling it were so.
I'd Fart just as I write for my own ease,
Nor shou'd you be concern'd unless you please,
I'll own, that you write better than I do,
But I have as much need to write as you.
What tho the Excrements of my dull
Brain,
Flows in a harsh insipid strain;
Whilst your rich head, eases it self of Wit.
Must none but
Civit Cats have leave to shit?
In all I write, shou'd Sense, and Wit, and Rhyme,
Fail me at once, yet something so sublime,
Shall stamp my
Poem, that the
World may see,
It cou'd have been produc'd by none but me;
And that's my end, for
Man can wish no more,
Than so to write, as none e're writ before.
Yet why am I no
Poet of the times?
I have
Allusions, Similies, and
Rhymes,
And
Wit, or else 'tis hard that I alone,
Of the whole Race of
Mankind shou'd have none.
Unequally the partial hand of
Heav'n,
Has all but this one only blessing giv'n.
[Page 5] The
World appears like a great Family,
Whose
Lord opprest with
Pride and
Poverty.
(That to a few great bounty he may show)
Is fain to starve the num'rous Train below.
Just so seems
Providence, as poor, and vain,
Keeping more Creatures than it can maintain.
Here 'tis profuse, and there it mainly saves,
And for one
Prince, it makes ten thousand
Slaves.
In Wit, alone't has been Magnificent,
Of which so just a share to each is sent,
That the most Avaricious are content.
For none e're thought (the due divisions such)
His own too little, or his
Friends too much.
Yet most
Men shew, or find great want of Wit
Writing themselves, or judging what is writ.
But I, who am of sprightly vigour full,
Look on
Mankind, as envious and dull,
Born to my self, my self I like alone,
And must conclude my judgment good, or none.
For cou'd my sense be naught, how shou'd I know,
Whether another
Mans were good or no?
Thus I resolve of my own
Poetry,
That 'tis the best, and there's a Fame for me.
If then I'm happy, what does it advance,
Whither to merit due, or Arrogance?
Oh! but the
World will take offence hereby,
Why then the
World shall suffer for't, not I.
Did e're the sawcy
World, and I agree
To let it have its beastly will on me?
Why shou'd my prostituted sense be drawn,
To ev'ry Rule their musty Customes spawn?
[Page 6] But
Men, will censure you, 'tis two to one,
When e're they censure, they'll be in the wrong.
There's not a thing on Earth, that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common Fame.
It calls the
Courtier Knave, the plain
Man rude,
Haughty the grave, and the delightful lew'd.
Impertinent the brisk, Moross the sad,
Mean the familiar, the reserv'd one mad.
Poor helpless
Woman, is not favour'd more,
She's a sly
Hypocrite, or publick
Whore.
Then who the Devil, wou'd give this—to be free
From th' innocent reproach of infamy.
These things consider'd, make me (in despight
Of idle Rumour) keep at home and write.
SATYR.
VVEre I (who to my cost already am
One of those strange prodigious Creatures
Man.)
A Spirit free, to choose for my own share,
What case of Flesh, and Blood, I pleas'd to wear,
I'd be a
Dog, a
Monkey, or a
Bear.
Or any thing but that vain
Animal,
Who is so proud of being rational.
The senses are too gross, and he'll contrive
A sixth, to contradict the other Five;
And before certain instinct, will preferr
Reason, which fifty times for one does err.
Which leaving light of
Nature, sense behind;
Pathless and dan'grous wandring ways it takes,
Through errors,
Fenny-Boggs, and Thorny
Brakes;
Whilst the misguided follower, climbs with pain,
Mountains of whimseys, heap'd in his own
Brain:
Stumbling from thought to thought, falls headlong down,
Into doubts boundless Sea, where like to drown.
Books bear him up a while, and makes him try,
To swim with Bladders of
Philosophy;
In hopes still t'oretake th'escaping light,
The
Vapour dances in his dazling sight,
Till spent, it leaves him to eternal Night.
Then Old Age, and experience, hand in hand,
Lead him to death, and make him understand,
After a search so painful, and so long,
That all his Life he has been in the wrong;
Hudled in dirt, the reas'ning
Engine lyes,
Who was so proud, so witty, and so wise,
Pride drew him in, as
Cheats, their
Bubbles, catch,
And makes him venture, to be made a
Wretch.
His wisdom did his happiness destroy,
Aiming to know what
World he shou'd enjoy;
And
Wit, was his vain frivolous pretence,
Of pleasing others, at his own expence.
For
Wits are treated just like common
Whores,
First they're enjoy'd, and then kickt out of
Doores,
The pleasure past, a threatning boubt remains,
That frights th'enjoyer, with succeeding pains:
Women and
Men of
Wit, are dang'rous Tools,
And ever fatal to admiring
Fools.
[Page 8] Pleasure allures, and when the
Fopps escape,
'Tis not that they're belov'd, but fortunate,
And therefore what thy fear, at least they hate.
But now methinks some formal Band, and Beard,
Takes me to task, come on Sir, I'm prepard.
Then by your favour, any thing that's writ
Against this gibeing jingling knack call'd
Wit,
Likes me abundantly, but you take care,
Vpon this point, not to be too severe.
Perhaps my
Muse, were fitter for this part,
For I profess, I can by very smart
On
Wit, which I abhor with all my heart:
I long to lash it in some sharp Essay,
But your grand indiscretion bids me stay,
And turns my Tide of Ink another way.
What rage ferments in your degen'rate mind,
To make you rail at Reason, and Mankind?
Bless glorious
Man! to whom alone kind
Heav'n,
An everlasting
Soul has freely giv'n;
Whom his great
Maker took such care to make,
That from himself he did the
Image take;
And this fair frame, in shining
Reason drest,
To dignifie his
Nature, above
Beast.
Reason, by whose aspiring influence,
We take a flight beyond material sense.
Dive into Mysteries, then soaring pierce,
The flaming limits of the Vniverse.
Search Heav'n and Hell, find out what's acted there,
And give the World true grounds of hope and fear.
Hold mighty Man, I cry, all this we know,
From the Pathetique Pen of
Ingello;
[Page 9] From
P— Pilgrim, S— replys,
And 'tis this very reason I despise.
This supernatural gift, that makes a
Myte-,
Think he is the Image of the Infinite:
Comparing his short life, void of all rest,
To the
Eternal, and the ever blest.
This busie, puzling, stirring up of doubt,
That frames deep
Mysteries, then finds 'em out;
Filling with Frantick Crowds of thinking
Fools,
Those Reverend
Bedlams, Colledges, and
Schools
Borne on whose Wings, each heavy
Sot can pierce,
The limits of the boundless Universe.
So charming Oyntments, make an Old
Witch flie,
And bear a Crippled Carcass through the Skie.
'Tis this exalted pow'r, whose bus'ness lies,
In
Nonsense, and impossibilities.
This made a Whimsical
Philosopher,
Before the spacious
World, his
Tub prefer,
And we have modern
Cloysterd Coxcombs, who
Retire to think, cause they have naught to do.
But thoughts, are giv'n for Actions government,
Where Action ceases, thoughts impertinent:
Our
Sphere of Action, is lifes happiness,
And he who thinks Beyond, thinks like an
Ass.
Thus, whilst' gainst false reas'ning I inveigh,
I own right
Reason, which I wou'd obey:
That
Reason that distinguishes by sense,
And gives us
Rules, of good, and ill from thence:
That bounds desires, with a reforming Will,
To keep 'em more in vigour, not to kill.
Your
Reason hinders, mine helps t'enjoy,
Renewing Apetites, yours wou'd destroy.
Hungar call's out, my Reason bids me eat;
Perversly yours, your Appetite does mock,
This askt for Food, that answers what's a Clock?
This plain distinction Sir your doubt secures,
'Tis not true Reason I despise but yours.
This I think Reason righted, but for
Man,
I'le nere recant defend him if you can.
For all his Pride, and his Philosophy,
'Tis evident,
Beasts are in their degree,
As wise at least, and better far than he.
Those
Creatures, are the wisest who attain,
By surest means, the ends at which they aim.
If therefore
Jowler, finds, and Kills his
Hares,
Better than
M—, supplyes Committed Chairs;
Though one's a
Sates-man, th'other but a
Hound.
Jowler, in Justice, wou'd be wiser found.
You see how far
Mans wisedom here extends,
Look next, if humane Nature makes amends;
Whose Principles, most gen'rous are, and just,
And to whose
Morals, you wou'd sooner trust.
Be Judge your self, I'le bring it to the test,
Which is the basest
Creature Man, or
Beast?
Birds feed on
Birds, Beast on each other prey,
But Savage
Man alone, does
Man betray:
Prest by necessity, they Kill for Food,
Man, undoes
Man, to do himself no good.
With Teeth, & Claws: by Nature arm'd thy hunt,
Natures allowance, to supply their want.
But
Man, with smiles, embraces Friendships, praise.
Unhumanely his Fellows life betrays;
[Page 11] With voluntary pains, works his distress,
Not through necessity, but wantonness.
For hunger, or for Love, they fight, or tear,
Whilst wretched
Man, is still in Arms for fear;
For fear he Armes, and is of Armes afraid,
By fear, to fear, successively betray'd
Base fear, the fource whence his best passion came,
His boasted Honour, and his dear bought Fame.
That lust of Pow'r, to which he's such a
Slave,
And for the which alone he dares be brave:
To which his various Projects are design'd,
Which makes him gen'rous, affable, and kind.
For which he takes such pains to be thought wise,
And screws his actions, in a forc'd disguise:
Leading a tedious life in Misery,
Under laborious, mean
Hypocrisie.
Look to the bottom, of his vast design,
Wherein
Mans VVisdom, Pow'r, and Glory joyn;
The good he acts, the ill he does endure;
'Tis all for fear, to make himself secure.
Meerly for safety, after Fame we thirst,
For all Men, wou'd be
Cowards if they durst.
And honesty's against all common sense,
Men must be
Knaves, 'tis in their own defence.
Mankind's dishonest, if you think it fair;
Amongst known
Cheats, to play upon the square,
You'le be undone—
Nor can weak truth, your reputation save,
The
Knaves, will all agree to call you
Knave.
VVrong'd shall he live, insulted o're, opprest.
VVho dares be less a
Villain, than the rest.
[Page 12] Thus Sir you see what humane Nature craves,
Most Men are
Cowards, all Men shou'd be
Knaves:
The diff'rence lyes (as far as I can see)
Not in the thing it self, but the degree;
And all the subject matter of debate,
Is only who's a
Knave, of the first
Rate?
All this with indignation have I hurl'd,
At the pretending part of the proud World,
Who swolne with selfish vanity, devise,
False freedoms, holy Cheats, and formal Lyes
Over their fellow
Slaves, to tyrannize.
But if in
Court, so just a Man there be,
(In
Court, a just Man, yet unknown to me.)
Who does his needful flattery direct,
Not to oppress, and ruine, but protect;
Since flattery which may so ever laid,
Is still a Tax on that unhappy Trade.
If so upright a
States-Man, you can find,
Whose passions bend to his unbyas'd Mind;
Who does his Arts, and
Policies apply,
To raise his
Country, not his
Family;
Nor while his Pride, own'd Avarice withstands,
Receives Aureal Bribes, from
Friends corrupted hands.
Is there a
Church-Man who on
God relyes?
Whose Life, his Faith, and Doctrine Justifies?
Not one blown up, with vain Prelatique Pride,
Who for reproof of Sins, does
Man deride:
Whose envious heart with his obstrep'ous sawcy Eloquence,
Dares chide at
Kings, and raile at Men of sense.
[Page 13] Who from his Pulpit, vents more peevish lies,
More bitter railings, scandals, Calumnies,
Than at a Gossipping, are thrown about,
When the good
Wives get drunk, and then fall out.
None of that sensual
Tribe, whose Talents lye,
In Avarice,
Pride, Sloth, and
Gluttony.
Who hunt good Livings, but abhor good Lives,
Whose lust exalted, to that height arrives,
They act Adūltery with their own
Wives.
And e're a score of years compleated be,
Can from the lofty
Pulpit proudly see,
Half a large
Parish, their own
Progeny.
Nor doating
B— who wou'd be ador'd,
For domineering at the
Councel Board;
A greater
Fop, in business at fourscore,
Fonder of serious
Toyes, affected more,
Than the gay glitt'ring
Fool, at twenty proves,
With all his noise, his tawdrey Cloaths, and loves,
But a meek humble Man, of modest sense,
Who Preaching peace, does practice continence;
Whose pious life's a proof he does believe,
Misterious truths, which no
Man can conceive.
If upon
Earth there dwell such
God like Men,
I'le here recant my
Paradox to them.
Adore those
Shrines of
Vertue, Homage pay,
And with the
Rabble World, their
Laws obey.
If such there are, yet grant me this at least,
Man differs more from
Man, than
Man from
Beast,
A Ramble in St. JAMES'S PARK.
MUch Wine had past with grave discourse,
Of who Fucks who, and who does worse;
Such as you usually do hear,
From them that dyet at the
Bear;
When I, who still take care to see,
Drunkenness reliev'd by
Lechery;
Went out into St.
James's
Park,
To cool my Head, and fire my Heart:
But though St.
James has the honor on't,
'Tis consecrate to
Prick and
Cunt.
There by a most incestuous
Birth;
Strange
Woods,, spring from the teeming Earth
For they relate how heretofore,
VVhen Antient
Pict, began to whore,
Deluded of his Assignation,
(Jilting it seems was then in fashion.)
Poor pensiue
Lover, in this place,
VVould Frigg upon his
Mothers Face:
VVhence Rowes of
Mandrakes tall did rise,
VVhose lewd Tops Fuck'd the very Skies.
Each imitative Branch does twine,
In some lov'd fold of
Aretine.
And Nightly now beneath their shade,
Are
Bugg'ries, Rapes, and
Incests made.
Unto this All-sin-sheltring
Grove,
Whores of the
Bulk, and the
Alcove.
Great Ladies Chamber-Maids, Drudges;
The
Rag-picker; and
Heiresse trudges;
Prentices, Pimps, Poets
and Gaolers;
Foot-Men, fine
Fops, do here arrive,
And here promisculously they strive.
Along these hollow'd Walks it was,
That I beheld
Corinna pass;
Who ever had been by to see,
The proud disdain she cast on me.
Though charming Eyes, he wou'd have swore,
She drapt from
Hea'vn that very hour;
Forsaking the Divine abode.
In scorn of some desparing
God.
But mark what Creatures
Women are.
So infinitely vile, and fair.
Three
Knights, o'th' Elbow, and the slurr,
VVith wrigling Tails, made up to her.
The first was of your
VVhitehall Blades
Near kin to th'
Mother of the
Maids,
Grac'd by whose favour he was able,
To bring a
Friend to th'
VVaiters Table.
Where he had heard Sir
Edward S.—
Say how the K— lov'd
Bansted Mutton.
Since when he'd ne'er be brought to eat,
By's good will any other Meat.
In this, as well as all the rest,
He ventures to do like the best.
But wanting common Sence, th'ingredient,
In choosing well, not least expedient.
Converts Abortive imitation.
To Universal affectation;
So he not only eats, and talks,
But feels, and smells, sits down and walks.
[Page 16] Nay looks, and lives, and loves by Rote,
In an old tawdrey
Birth-Day-Coat.
The Second was a
Grays Inn Wit,
A great Inhabiter of the
Pit;
Where
Critick-like, he sits and squints,
Steals Pocket-Handkerchiefs, and hints,
From's
Neighbour, and the
Comedy,
To Court and pay his
Landlady.
The Third a
Ladies Eldest Son,
VVithin few years of Twenty One;
Who hopes from his propitious Fate,
Against he comes to his Estate.
By these Two
Worthies to be made
A most accomplisht tearing
Blade.
One in a strain 'twixt Tune and
Nonsense,
Cries, Madam, I have lov'd you long since,
Permit me your fair hand to kiss.
VVhen at her
Mouth her C— says yes.
In short, without much more ado.
Joyful, and pleas'd, away she flew;
And with these Three confounded
Asses,
From
Park, to
Hackney-Coach, she passes.
So a proud
Bitch does lead about,
Of Humble
Currs, the Amorous rout:
VVho most obsequiously do hunt,
The sav'ry sence of Salt-swolne
Cunt.
Some Pow'r more patient now relate;
The sense of this surprizing Fate.
Gods! that a thing admir'd by me,
Shou'd tast so much of Infamy.
Had she pickt out to rub her Arse on,
Some stiff-Prick'd
Clown, or well hung
Parson.
[Page 17] Each job of whose Spermatick Sluce,
Had fill'd her
C—t with wholsom Juice.
I the proceeding shou'd have prais'd,
In hope she had quencht a Fire I rais'd:
Such nat'ral freedoms are but just,
There's something gen'rous in meer Lust.
But to turn damn'd abandon'd
Jade,
When neither
Head nor
Tail perswade;
To be a
Whore, in understanding,
A Passive
Pot for
Fools to
S— in.
The
Devil plaid booty, sure with thee,
To bring a blot of infamy.
But why was I of all
Mankind,
To so severe a fate design'd?
Ungrateful! why this Treachery
To humble fond, believing me?
Who gave you Priviledges above,
The nice allowances of Love?
Did ever I refuse to bear,
The meanest part your Lust cou'd spare?
When your lew'd
C—t, came spewing home,
Drencht with the Seed of half the
Town.
My Dram of Sperme, was supt up after,
For the digestive Surfeit Water.
Full gorded at another time,
With a vast
Meal of Nasty Slime;
Which your devouring
C—t had drawn
From
Porters Backs, and
Foot-mens Brawn.
I was content to serve you up,
My
B-lock full, for your
Grace Cup;
Nor ever thought it an abuse,
While you had pleasure for excuse.
[Page 18] You that cou'd make my Heart away,
For Noise and Colours, and betray,
The Secrets of my tender hours,
To such
Knight Errant Paramours;
When leaning on your Faithless Breast,
Wrapt in security, and rest.
Soft kindness all my pow'rs did move,
And reason lay dissolv'd in Love.
May stinking
Vapour choak your
Womb,
Such as the
Men you doat upon;
May your deprav'd Appetite,
That cou'd in whiffling
Fools delight,
Beget such
Frenzies in your
Mind,
You may go mad for the
North-wind.
And fixing all your hopes upon't;
To have him Bluster in your
C—t.
Turn up your longing Arse to th' Air,
And perish in a wild despair.
But
Cowards shall forget to Rant,
School-boys to Frigg, old
Whores to Paint:
The Jesuits Fraternity,
Shall leave the use of
Buggery.
Crab-Lowse, inspir'd with Grace Divine,
From Earthy
Cod, to
Heav'n shall climb;
Physicians,
shall believe in Jesus,
And disobedience cease to please us.
E're I desist with all my Pow'r,
To plague this
Woman and undo her.
But my revenge will best be tim'd,
When she is
Marry'd that is lymd;
In that most lamentable State,
I'll make her feel my scorn, and hate;
[Page 19] Pelt her with Scandals, Truth, or Lies,
And her poor
Curr with jealousies.
Till I have torn him from her
Breech,
While she whines like a
Dog-drawn Bitch.
Loath'd, and depriv'd, kickt out of
Town,
Into some dirty hole alone,
To Chew the
Cud of Misery,
And know she owes it all to me.
And may no
Woman better thrive,
VVho dares profane the C—t I S—
A Letter fancy'd from Artemisa ia the Town, to Cloe in the Country.
CLoe, by your command in Verse I write,
Shortly you'l bid me ride astride and Fight;
Such Talents better with our
Sex agree,
Than lofty flights of dang'rous
Poëtry,
Among the
Men, I mean the
Men of
Wit,
(At least they past for such before they writ.)
How many bold advent'rers for the
Bays,
Proudly designing large returns of Praise.
Who durst that stormy Pathless
World explore,
Were soon dasht back, & wreckt on the dull shore,
Broke off that little stock they had before.
How wou'd a
VVomans tott'ring
Barque be tost,
Where stoutest
Ships, the
Men of
VVit are lost?
When I reflect on this I straight grow wise,
And my own self I gravely thus advise.
Dear
Artemisa, Poetry's a Snare,
Bedlam, has many
Mansions; have a care,
Your
Muse diverts you, makes the
Reader, sad
You think your self inspir'd, he thinks you mad
Thus like an Arrant
Woman as I am,
No sooner well convinc'd writin'gs a shame,
That
Whore, is scarce a more reproachful name
Than
Poetess—
Like
Men that Marry, or like
Maids that woe,
Because it is the worst thing they can do.
Pleas'd with the contradiction, and the Sin,
Me thinks I stand on Thornes till I begin.
You expect to hear at least, what love has past
In this lewd
Town, since you, and I saw last
What change has happen'd of
Intrigues, and whether,
The old ones last, and who, and who's together?
But how (my dearest
Cloe) shou'd I set
My
Pen to write, what I wou'd fain forget?
Or name the lost thing
Love, without a Tear,
Since so debauch'd by ill-bred Customes here?
Love, the most generous passion of the Mind,
The softest refuge innocence can find,
The safe directer of unguided
Youth,
Fraught with kind wishes and secur'd by Truth;
That Cordial drop,
Heav'n in our
Cup has thrown,
To make the naus'ous draught of life go down;
On which one only blessing,
God, might raise,
In
Lands of
Atheists, Subsidies of praise;
For none did, e're so dull, and stupid prove,
But felt a
God, and blest his pow'r in love:
[Page 21] This only joy, for which poor we were made,
Is grown like play, to be an Arrant
Trade;
The
Rooks creep in, and it has got of late,
As many little
Cheats, and tricks as that:
But what yet more a
VVomans heart wou'd vex,
'Tis chiefly carry'd on by our own
Sex.
Oh silly
Sex! though born like
Monarchs free,
Turn
Gipsies, for a meaner liberty,
And hate restraint, though but from infamy.
They call what ever is not common, nice,
And deaf to
Natures Rule, or
Loves advice,
Forsake the pleasure, to pursue the
Vice.
To an exact perfection they have brought,
The action Love, the passion is forgot;
'Tis below
VVit, they say, if we admire,
And ev'n with approving, they desire:
Their private wish, obeys the publique voice;
'Twixt good, and bad, whimsey decides, not choice;
Fashion's grown up to taste, at formes they strike,
They know what they wou'd have, not what they like.
Bovy's, a
Beauty, if some few agree
To call him so, the rest to that degree,
Sir. R. B.
Affected are, that with their Eares they see.
Where I was visiting the other
Night,
Comes a fine
Lady, with her humble
Knight;
Who had prevail'd with her, through her own skill,
At his request, though much against his will
To come to
London—
As the
Coach stopt, I heard her voice more loud,
Then a great
Bellied Womans, in a
Crowd;
[Page 22] Telling the
Knight, that her affairs require,
He for some hours, obsequiously retire.
I think she was asham'd he shou'd be seen,
Hard fate of
Husband, the
Gallant had been,
Thought a diseas'd, ill favour'd
Fool, brought in
Dispatch says she, the bus'ness you pretend,
Your Beastly visit, to your drunken
Friends;
A Bottle, ever makes you look so fine;
Methinks I long to smell you stink of
Wine:
Your
Country drinking Breath's enough to Kill;
Sowre Ale, corrected with a
Lemmon Pill.
Prithee farewell, we'le meet again anon,
The necessary thing, bows, and is gone.
She flies up stairs, and hast does show,
That silly
Antick Postures will allow.
And then burst out—And Madam am not I,
The strangest alter'd Creature! let me dye,
I find my self rediculously grown,
Fmbarrast, with my being out of
Town.
Rude, and untaught, like any
Indian Queen,
My
Country nakedness, is strangely seen.
How is
Love govern'd,
Love that rules the state
And pray who are the
Men most worn of late?
When I was marry'd,
Fools, were All-a-mode,
Then
Men of
Wit, were then held incommode,
Slow of belief, and sickle in desire,
Who e're they'le be perswaded, must enquire,
As if they came to spye, not to admire.
With searching wisdom, fatal to their ease,
They find out why, what may, and shou'd not please.
Nay take themselves for injur'd, when we dare,
Make'em think better of us than we are:
[Page 23] And if we hide our frailties from their sights,
Call us deceitful
Jilts, and
Hypocrites;
Thy little guess (who at our Arts are griv'd)
The perfect joy of being well deceiv'd:
Inquisitive, as jealous
Cuckolds grow.
Rather than not be knowing, they will know,
VVhat being known, creates their certain wee.
VVomen, shou'd these of all
Mankind avoid,
For wonder by clear knowledge is destroy'd,
Women, who is an Arrant
Bird of Night,
Bold in the dusk, before a
Fools dull sight,
Must fly, when
Reason brings the blazing light.
But the kind easie
Fool, apt to admire
Himself, trust us; his follyes all conspire,
To flatter his, and favour our desire:
Vain of his proper merit, he with ease.
Believes we love him best, who best can please:
On him our gross, dull, common, flatteries, pass.
Ever most happy, when most made an
Ass;
Heavy to apprehend, though all
Mankind
Perceive us false, the
Fop himself, is blind,
VVho doating on himself—
Thinks ev'ry one that sees him of his
Mind.
These are true
Womens Men here fore'd to cease,
Through want of breath, not will to hold her peace;
She to the Window runs, where she had spi'd,
Her much esteem'd dear
Friend, the
Monkey ey'd.
With Forty smiles, as many Antick bows,
As if't had been the
Lady of the House,
The dirty chatt'ring
Monster, she embrac'd;
And made it this fine tender Speech at last.
[Page 24] Kiss me! thou curious Miniature of
Man.
How odd thou art! how pretty! how japan!
Oh I cou'd live and dye with thee! then on
For half on hour in Complements she ran.
I took this time to think what
Nature meant,
When this mixt thing into the
World she sent,
So very wise, yet so impertinent,
One that knows ev'ry thing; that
God thought fit,
Shou'd be an
Ass, through choich, not want of wit.
Whose
Foppery, without the help of sense,
Cou'd ne're have rise to such an excellence.
Nature's as lame in making a true
Fop,
As a
Philosopher; the very top.
And dignity of folly, we attain,
By studious search, and labour of the
Brain;
By observation, Councel, and deep thought,
God, never made a
Coxcomb worth a groat;
We owe that Name to Inductry, and Arts,
An eminent
Fool, must be a
Man of parts:
And such a one was she, who had turn'd o're,
As many
Books as
Men, lov'd much, read more;
Had discerning
Wit, to her was known,
Evry ones fault, or merit, but her own:
All the good
Quallities, that ever blest,
A
Woman, so distinguish'd from the rest,
Except discretion only, she possest.
But now
Moncher, dear
Pug, says she adieu,
And the discourse broke off, does thus renew.
You smile to see me, whom the
World perchance
Mistakes to have some wit, so far advance.
The interest of
Fools, that I approve,
Their merit more, than
Mens of wit, and love.
[Page 25] But in our
Sex, too may proofs there are,
Of such whom
Wits undone, and
Fools repair:
This in my time, was so observ'd a
Rule,
Hardly a
Wench, in
Town, but had her
Fool;
The meanest common
Slut, who long was grown,
The jeast, and scorn of ev'ry
Pit Buffoone;
Had yet left charms enough, to have subdu'd,
Some
Fop, or other, fond to be thought lewd.
F—,
cou'd make an Irish Lord,
a Nokes;
And B—M—,
had her City Cokes
A
Womans ne're so ruin'd, but she can,
Be still reveng'd, on her undoer
Man.
How lost soe're, she'le find some
Lover, more,
A more abandon'd
Fool, than she a
Whores
That wretched thing
Corinna, who has run
Through all the several ways of being undone,
Couzen'd at first by love, and living then,
By turning thee too dear-bought-cheat on
Men.
Gay were the hours, and wing'd with joy they slew,
VVhen first the
Town, her early
Beauties knew;
Courted admir'd, and lov'd, with Presents fed,
Youth in her
Cheeks, and pleasure in her
Bed.
Till
Fate, or her ill
Angel, thought it fit,
To make her dote upon a
Man of
Wit,
VVho found 'twas dull to love above a
Day,
Made his ill natur'd jest, and went away:
Now scorn'd of all, for saken and opprest.
Shee's a
Memento mori, to the rest.
Diseas'd, decay'd, to take up
Half a Crown,
Must Morgage
her Long Scarfe, & Mantoe-Gown.
Poor
Greature! who unheard of as a
Fly,
In some dark hole, must all the
Winter lye.
[Page 26] And want she must endure a whole half year,
That for one
Month, she Tawdry may appear:
In
Easter Terme, she gets her a new
Gown,
When my young
Masters Worship comes to
Town;
From
Pedagogue, and
Mother, jest set free,
The hopeful
Heir, of a great
Family;
Who with strong
Beer, and
Beef, the
Country rules,
And ever since the
Conqnest, have been
Fools.
And still with careful prospect, to maintain,
This
Charecter, least crossing of the
Strain.
Shou'd mend the
Body Breed, his Friends provide,
A
Couzen of his own to be his
Bride.
And thus set out—
VVith an
Estate, no
Wit, and a young
Wife,
The soled comforts, of a
Coxcomb's life;
Dunghil, and
Peas, forfook, he comes to
Town,
Turus
Spark, learns to be lewd, and is undone.
Nothing sutes worse with
Vice, than want of sense,
Fools are still wicked, at their own expence.
This o're grown
School-Boy, lost
Corinna, wins,
At the first dush, to make an
Asse, begins.
Pretends to like a
Man, that has not known.
The Vanilies, nor Vices of the
Town.
Fresh in his youth, and faithful in his love,
Eager of joys, which he does seldom prove,
Healthful, and strong, he does no pains endure,
But what the fair one, he adores, can cure:
Greateful for favours, does the
Sex esteem,
And
Libells none, for being kind to him.
Then of the lewdness of the
Town complains,
Railes at the
Witts, and
Atheists, and maintains,
To have a Blood, untained, youth, and health.
The ill-bred
Puppy, who had never seen,
A
Creature look so gay, or talk so fine;
Believes, then falls in love, and then in debt,
Mortgages all, ev'n to the
Antient Seat,
To buy this
Mystriss, a new
House, for life;
To give her
Plate, and
Jewels, Robs his
Wife.
And when to the height of fondness he is grown,
'Tis time to poyson him, and all's her own.
Thus meeting in her common Arms his Fate,
He leaves her
Bastard, Heir to his Estate;
And as the
Race of such an
Owl, deserves
His own dull lawful
Progeny he starves
Nature, who never made a thing in vain,
But does each
Insect, to some end ordain.
VVisely provides kind-keeping
Fools, no doubt
To patch up
Vices, Men of
Wit, were out.
Thus she ran on Two hours, some grains of sense,
Still mixt with
Volleys of impertinence.
But now 'tis time I shou'd some pitty show,
To
Cloe, since I cannot choose but know;
Readers, must reap the dullness,
VVriters sow.
By the next
Post, I will such
Stories tell,
As joyn'd to these, shall to a
Valume swell;
Truer than
Heaven, more infamous than
Hall,
But you are tir'd and so am I—
Farewel.
The Imperfect Enjoyment.
NAked she lay, claspt in my longing Arms,
I fill'd with Love, and she all over charms,
Both equally inspir'd, with eager fire,
Melting through kindness, flaming in desire.;
With
Arms, Legs, Lips, close clinging to embrace,
She clips me to her
Breast, and sucks me to her
Face.
The nimble
Tongue (
Love's lesser Lightning) plaid
Within my
Mouth, and to my thoughts convey'd.
Swift Orders, that I shou'd prepare to throw,
The
All-dissolving Thunderbolt below.
My flutt'ring
Soul, sprung with the pointed kiss,
Hangs hov'ring o're her
Balmy Limbs of Bliss.
But whilst her busie hand, wou'd guide that part,
VVhich shou'd convey my
Soul, up to her
Heart.
In liquid
Raptures I dissolve all o're,
Melt into Sperme, and spend at ev'ry Pore:
A touch from any part of her had don't;
Her Hand, her Foot, her very look's a
Cunt.
Smiling, she chids in a kind murm'ring
Noise,
And from her
Body wips the clammy joys;
VVhen with a Thousand Kisses, wand'ring o're,
My panting
Breast, and is there then no móre?
She cries. All this to Love, and
Rapture's due,
Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?
But I the most forlone, lost
Man alive,
To shew my wisht Obedience vanly strive,
I sing alas! and Kiss, but cannot Swive.
[Page 29] Eager desires, confound my first intent,
Succeeding shame, does more success prevent,
And
Rage, at last, confirms me impotent.
Ev'n her fair Hand, which might bid heat return
To frozen
Age, and make cold
Hermits burn,
Apply'd to my dead
Cinder, warms no more,
Than Fire to
Ashes, cou'd past Flames restore.
Trembling, confus'd, despairing, limber, dry,
A wishing, weak, unmoving lump Hy,
This
Dart of love, whose piercing point oft try'd,
With
Virgin blood, ten thousand Maids has dy'd.
Which
Nature still directed with such
Art,
That it through ev'ry
C—t, reacht ev'ry
Heart.
Stiffly resolv'd, twou'd carelesly invade,
Woman or
Boy, nor ought its fury staid,
Where e're it pierc'd, a
Cunt it found or made.
Now languid lies, in this unhappy hour,
Shrunk up, and Sapless, like a wither'd
Flow'r.
Thou treacherous, base, and deserter of my flame,
False to my passion, fatal to my
Fame;
By what mistaken
Magick dost thou prove,
So true to lewdness, so untrue to Love?
What
Oyster, Cinder, Beggar, common
Whore,
Didst thou e're fail in all thy Life before?
When
Vice, Disease and
Scandal lead the way,
VVith what officious hast dost thou obey?
Like a Rude-roaring
Hector, in the
Streets,
That Scuffles, Cuffs, and Ruffles all he meets;
But if his
King, or
Country, claim his Aid,
The
Rascal Villain, shrinks, and hides his head:
Ev'n so thy
Brutal Valor, is displaid,
Breaks ev'ry
Stews, does each small
Whore invade,
[Page 30] But if great
Love, the onset does command,
Base recreant, to thy
Prince, thou darst not stand
VVorst part of me, and henceforth hated most,
Through all the
Town, the common
Fucking Post;
On whom each
Whore, relieves her tingling
Cunt,
As
Hogs, on
Goats, do rub themselves and grunt.
May'st thou to rav'nous
Shankers, be a
Prey,
Or in consuming
Weepings wast away.
May
Stranguries, and
Stone, thy
Dayes attend.
May'st thou Piss, who didst refuse to spend,
When all my joyes, did on false thee depend.
And may
ten thousand abler
Pricks agree,
To do the wrong'd
Corinna, right for thee.
To LOVE.
O! nunquam pro me satis indignate Cupido.
OH
Love! how cold, and slow to take my part,
Thou idle
Wanderer, about my
Heart.
Why thy
Old faithful
Soldier, wilt thou see,
Opprest in thy own
Tents? they murder me.
Thy Flames Consume, thy Arrows Pierce thy
Friends,
Rather on
Foes, pursue more noble ends.
Achilles Sword, wou'd gen'rously bestow,
A Cure, as certain, as it gave the blow.
[Page 31]
Hunters, who follow flying Game, give o're,
When the
Prey's caught, hope still leads on before.
We thy own
Slaves feel thy
Tyrannick blows,
Whilst thy tame Hands unmov'd against thy
Foes.
On
Men disarm'd, how can you gallant prove,
And I was long ago disarm'd by Love.
Millions of dull
Men, live, and scornful
Maids,
Wee'll own
Love valiant, when he these invades.
Rome, from each
Corner of the wide
World, snatch'd
A
Lawrel, or't had been to this day thatch'd.
But the Old
Soldier, has his resting place,
And the good batter'd
Horse, is turn'd to
Grass.
The harrast
Whore, who liv'd a
wretch to please,
Has leave to be a
Bawd, and take her ease.
For me then, who have freely spent my Blood,
(Love) in thy Service, and so boldly stood.
In
Celia's Trenches; wer't not wisely done,
E'en to retire, and live at peace at home?
No—might I gain a
God-head, to disclaim,
My glorious
Title, to my endless flame:
Divinity, with scorn, I wou'd forswear,
Such sweet, dear, tempting
Devils, Women are.
When er'e those flames grow faint, I quickly find,
A fierce black Storm, pour down upon my
Mind.
Head-long, I'm hurl'd, like
Horse-men, who in vain,
Their (fury foaming)
Coursers, wou'd restrain,
As
Ships, just when the
Harbour they attain.
Are snatcht by sudden
Blasts, to
Sea again:
So
Loves fantastick storms, reduce my
Heart,
Half-rescu'd, and the
God resumes his
Dart.
Strike here, this undefended
Bosome wound,
And for so brave a
Conquest be renown'd.
[Page 32]
Shafts fly so fast to me from ev'ry part,
You'le scarce discern your
Quiver, from my
Hear
What
Wretch can bear a live-long nights dull rest
Or think himself in lazy slumbers blest?
Fool—is not sleep the Image of pale
Death?
There's time for rest, when fate has stopt you breath.
Me, may my soft deluding dear deceive,
I'me happy in my hopes, whilst I believe.
Now let her flatter, then as fondly chide.
Often may I enjoy, of't be deny'd.
With doubtful steps, the
God of
War does move
By thy example, in
Ambiguous Love.
Blown to and fro like
Down from thy own
Wing;
Who knows, when joy, or Anguish, thou wilt brings?
Yet at thy
Mothers, and thy
Slaves request,
Fix an Eternal
Fmpire in my
Breast;
And let th' inconstant charming
Sex,
Whose willful scorn, does
Lovers vex;
Submit their
Hearts before thy
Throne,
The
Vassal World, is then thy own.
The Maim'd Debauchee.
AS some brave
Admiral, in former
War,
Depriv'd of force, but prest with courage still;
Two
Rival-Fleets, appearing from a far,
Crawles to the top of an adjacent
Hill.
[Page 33] From whence (with thoughts full of concern) he views
The wise, and daring Conduct of the fight,
And each bold Action, to his
Mind renews,
His present glory, and his past delight.
From his fierce
Eyes, flashes of rage he throws,
As from black
Clouds, when
Lightning breaks away,
Transported, thinks himself amidst his
Foes,
And absent, yet enjoys the Bloody
Day.
So when my
Days of impotence approach,
And I'm by
Pox, and
Wines unlucky chance,
Drov'n from the pleasing
Billows of debauch,
On the dull
Shore of lazy temperance.
My pains at last some respite shall afford,
Whilst I behold the
Battails you maintain,
When
Fleets of
Glasses, Sail about the
Board;
From whose Broad-sides
Volleys of
Wit shall rain.
Nor shall the sight of
Honourable Scars,
Which my too forward
Valour did procure.
Frighten new listed
Souldiers from the
Warrs,
Past joys have more than paid what I endure.
Shou'd hopeful
Youths (worth being drunk) prove nice,
And from their fair Inviters meanly shrink,
Twou'd please the
Ghost, of my departed
Vice,
If at my Councel, they repent and drink,
Or shou'd some cold complexion'd
Sot forbid,
With his dull
Morals, our
Nights brisk
Alarmes,
I'll fire his Blood by telling what I did,
When I was strong, and able to bear Armes.
I'll tell of
Whores Attacqu'd their Lords at home,
Bawds Quarters beaten up, and
Fortress won,
Windows demolisht,
Watches overcome,
And handsome ills, by my contrivance done.
Nor shall our
Love-fits Cloris be forgot,
When each the well-look'd
Link-boy, strove t'enjoy
And the best Kiss, was the deciding
Lot,
Whether the
Boy us'd you, or I the
Boy.
With Tales like these, I will such heat inspire,
As to the important mischief shall incline.
I'll make them long some
Antient Church to fire,
And fear no lewdness the're call'd to by
Wine.
Thus
States-man-like, I'll sawcily impose
And safe from danger
Valiently advise,
Shelter'd in impotence, urge you to blows,
And being good for nothing else, be wise.
The Argument.
How Tall-boy, Kill-prick, Suck-Prick,
did contend,
For Bridegroom Dildoe, Friend
did fight with Friend;
But Man
of God,
by Law-Man,
called Parson,
Contriv'd by turns how each might rub her
Arse on.
SAy
Heav'n-born Muse, for only thou canst tell,
How discord dire, between Two
Widows fell?
What made the
Fair one, and her well shap'd
Mother,
Duty forget, and pious
Nature smother?
Who was most modest, vertuous, or fair,
Was not the cause of contest I dare swear.
Nor Wit, nor breeding, rais'd this emulation;
Those things with them are trifles out of fashion.
Great was the strife, rais'd up by envious
Fate,
To ruine
Pegos, happy Reign and State.
When R— with every
Eye beheld,
The Three dear
Friends, his Heart with rancor swell'd.
That in one
House, they were of one accord,
Wanton in
Bed, and
Riotous at
Board,
Preferring
Brawny G— to Spiney
Lord:
He Vow'd to break this
Tripple League, of Love,
And from their
Breasts, sweet
Friendship to remove.
In a foul day, from bawdy
Bath, he flies,
To put in Act his hasted enterprise.
I th'
Bow'r of Bliss, where sacred
Ballocks dwells,
There lives a
Hagg, deep red in Charms, and Spells;
Philters, and
Potions, that my
Magick skill,
Can give an
Eunuch Stones, and
Cunt its fill.
Babes, at her call fly from the breeding
Womb,
With
Neighbour T-rd, in loathsome
Jakes to roame.
As oft as
Finger, Dildoe, Pego, Rape,
The
Virgin Hymen, she repaires the
Gap:
Fam'd through the
World, for the
C—t. mending Trade;
To her he goes to implore her mighty Aid,
By
Men she's call'd the
Mother of the
Maids.
Hail Worse.
Dame (said he) repleat with grace.
Mother,
oth' Maids, Daughter
of noble Race!
Whilst Men
of God
to Betty B— go.
VVhist Prick,
and Pen,
with White,
and Black
does flow,
My lasting
Verse, shall magnifie the fame,
And melting
Tarse, adore thy holy name.
Therefore dear
Mother, lend thine equal Ear,
To my complaint, and favour my just
Prayer.
There is a place, a down a gloomy
Vale, the Bath
VVhere burthen'd
Nature, lays her nasty
Tail;
Then Thousand
Pilgrims, thither do resort,
For ease, disease, for letchery, and sport:
Thither two
Beldames, and a jilting
Wife,
Came to swive off, the tedious hours of life:
I willing to contribute to their joy,
Offer'd my
Myte, to th' young unsatiate Toy,
Who banish'd
Cuck, cause
Cunt he cou'd not cloy.
Told me I must Twelve times her
Womb bedew,
E're her
Child Suck-prick, shou'd her Buttocks shew
Resolu'd to win like
Hercules, the Prize.
Twelve times I scour'd the
Kennel twixt her Thighs,
The cheating
Jilt, at th' Twelft, a
Dry-Bob, cryes.
My
Prick and I, thus cross, bit in high rage,
Appeal'd to th' skilful sticklees on the
Stage.
With that fair
Tall-boy, and bold
Suck-prick, come,
To squeeze my
Tarse, and pass their final doom:
Saying if on
Priapus, I cou'd shew,
One holy Relique, of kind
Pearly Dew,
Ith' Twelth time, in
Kill-pricks Arse, did Spew.
To their deriding
Test, I did submit,
Priapus squeez'd, a
Snow-Ball, did emit;
Yet these Two partial
Dames, a dry
Bob, cry,
Perform your Bargain
(Peer) or frigg, and dye.
Thus was I Rook'd of Twelve substantial
Fucks,
By these base stinking, over it chink
Nocks.
Your aid, your aid, dear
Mother me inspire,
With apt revenge to feed my raging fire.
The gracious
Matron, smiling on him said.
Be it as thou desir'st my dear lov'd
Lad;
For this abuse, the
Rump-fed-Runts shall mourn,
Till slimey Cunt, to grimey A-se hole turn.
By her
Caves Mouth, a verdant
Mirtle grows,
Bearing
Loves Trophies, on his sacred Boughs.
The
Crowns of
Kings, were offer'd to this Shrine,
Dildoes and
Merkins of thy
Royal Line.
Fair
Ladies hearts, with
Mitred Pricks transfixt,
In Mystick manner, make the
Crucifix.
[Page 38] To th' Tree she leads him, from a
Bough pulls down,
A mighty Tool, a
Dildoe of renown;
A
Dildoe, long, and large, as
Hectors Launce,
Inscrib'd,
Honi Soit Qui Mal y' Pence.
Knight of the
Garter, made for's vast deserts,
As
Modern Heroe, was for's monstrous parts.
This pious
Son (said he) nail up in
Box,
By
Carryer, send it these salt burning
Nocks,
Directed thus. To the Lady
most deserving
Who's made most
Slaves, and kept most
Pricks from
Starving.
O're-joy'd with hop'd success away he flyes,
To
Bath, disguis'd, to bear the welcome
Prize;
But when they saw the Image of the Blest
Man!
Who can express how fast, how swift they ran!
Each for her self to seize it; no
Dog at
Deer,
Nor
Hawk, at
Herne, shew'd such a swift carri'ere.
At once they souse, on the beloved
Prey
And sworn
Friends do engage in
Mortal Fray.
Old
Kill-prick, dreadful to her
Friends, and
Foes,
Like
Luxenburgh, in Back, and Breast-plate shows.
Gygantick Tall-boy famed in the
West,
For
Cornish Hugg, to th fight her self addrest;
Whilst the
Child Suck-prick, hop'd to steal away,
By Stratagem, the glory of the Day.
But all in vain,
Tall-Boy, with one hand held,
Joves Prize, with th' other crafty
Suck-prick sell'd:
But looks, not
Menaces, nor crashing blow,
Cou'd make stout
Kill-prick, quit her lov'd
Deldoe:
Undanted, she maintain'd a cruel fight;
For
Conquest scratcht. and tore. withal her might.
[Page 39] So have I seen a crum-back
Crab-louse stick,
With fervent love, to lick creating
Prick;
The more he pulls, the more the loving
Wretch,
Doea strive to stay, and each
Hair does catch.
Till murdring
Man, enrag'd from
Ballocks tears,
The
Nock-born-Bratt, and ends his hopeful years.
So hard it far'd with
Kill-prick, had not
Fate,
Sent
Man of God, to end the dire debate,
What rage, what fury (said he) do ye stir
To shed the Blood of
Saints, in civil
War?
How well you make the
Mother Church, to mourn,
And to Fanaticks
be the publick scorn?
For shame, dear Souls, reserve your noble blood,
To spend with Man. Abasht the
Warriers stood
To see the holy
Father, in the place,
But strait on the matter putting a good face;
Thus
Kill-prick spake.
To you O Reverend Sir
The justness of this
Cause I will transfer,
A Cause too great for
Lay-men, vile to try,
Fit for
Plus Ultras, deep Divinity
A
Cause, for mhich blest
Saints, above wou'd dye!
The modest
Tall-boy, so devote appears,
Though stealing
Prick, you'd think she had her Prayer's;
And thouhg she'had almost won the bloody
Field,
With
Suck-prick (
Babe of
Grace) to this does yield.
The case being stated, holy
Man does pray,
For a Blessing on's endeavours, then does say
Whereas sage
Matrones, you do all agree,
Your case to yield to my integrity,
Fitter for general Councel than weak me,
[Page 40]
Dildoe's a Lawful Tool, deny't who can,
I'll prove 'tis made for a meet help for
Man;
As unto
Rector, Curate, is Assistant,
So
Dildoe's to faln
Prick, when
Cunt has pist on't.
But her's th'
Elect, ordain'd for
Propagation,
Who trusts in this is blest in
Generation;
This has done more, than
Turnbridge, Bath, or
Epsom,
Though ne're so barran this is sure to help 'em.
Then pulling out the
Rector, of the
Females,
Nine times he bath'd him, in their piping hot Tails.
Panting (quoth he) now peace be on ye all,
VVhen I am absent then one
Dildoe call;
As those in holy
Church, to
Image pray,
VVhen wonder-working
Saint, out o'th' way,
Thus all well pleas'd to
Church away they go,
To sing
Te Deum, for their dear
Dildoe.
An Allusion to Horace.
The 10th Satyr of the 1st. Book.
Nempe incomposito Dixi pede, &c.
VVEll Sir, 'tis granted, I said D— Rhimes,
Were stoln, unequal, nay dull many times:
VVhat foolish
Patron, is there found of his,
So blindly partial, to deny me this?
[Page 41] But that his
Plays, embroider'd up, and down,
With
Wit, and
Learning, justly pleas'd the
Town,
In the same
Paper, I as freely own.
Yet having this allow'd, the heavy
Mass,
That Stuffs up his loose
Volumns, must not pass:
For by that
Rule, I might aswel admit,
Crowns, tedious
Scenes, for
Poetry, and
Wit.
'Tis therefore not enough, when your false sense,
Hits the false Judgment, of an
Audience:
Of clapping
Fools, assembled a vast Crowd,
Till the throng'd
Play-house, crack with the dull load;
Though ev'n that
Talent, merits in some sort,
That can divert the
Rabble, and the
Court.
Which blundring
S—, never cou'd attain,
And puzling
O—, labours at in vain.
But within due proportions circumscribe
What e're you write; that with a flowing Tide,
The
Style may rise, yet in its rise forbear,
With useless words, t' oppress the weary'd Ear.
Here be your Language lofty, there more light,
Your
Rethorick, with your
Poetry unite:
For
Elegance sake, sometimes allay the force
Of
Epithets, 'twill soften the discourse;
A jeast in scorn, points out, and hits the thing.
More home, than the
Moros Satyrs sting.
Shake-spear, and
Johnson, did herein excell,
And might in this be imitated well;
Whom refin'd
E—, coppy's not at all,
But is himself, a sheer
Original.
Nor that slow
Drudge, in swift
Pindarick strains,
F—, who
C— imitates with pains,
And rides a jaded
Muse, whipt with loose Rains.
And
Hannibal, a whining Amorous
Slave,
I laugh, and wish the hot-brain'd
Fustian Fool,
In
B— hands, to be well lasht at
School.
Of all our
Modern Wits none seems to me,
Once to have toucht, upon true
Comedy,
But hasty
Shadwel, and slow
Wicherley
Shadwells unfinish'd works do yet impart,
Great proofs of force of
Nature, none of Art;
VVith just bold strokes he dashes here, and there,
Shewing great
Mastery, with little Care;
And scorns to varnish his good Touches o're,
To make the
Fools, and
Women, praise'em more.
But
Wicherley, earnes hard, what e're he gains,
He wants no judgment, nor he spares no pains;
He frequently excells, and at the least,
Makes fewer faults, than any of the best.
Waller, by Nature, for the
Bays design'd,
With force, and fire, and fancy unconfin'd,
In
Panegyricks, does excell
Mankind.
He best can turn, enforce, and soften things,
To praise great
Conquerors, or to fiatter
Kings.
For pointed
Satyrs, I wou'd
Buckhurst choose,
The best good
Man, with the worst natur'd
Must.
For
Songs, and
Verses, mannerly, obscene,
That can stir
Nature up, by spring unseen,
And without forcing blushes worm the
Queen.
Sidley, as that prevailing, gentle Art,
That can with a resistless Charm impart,
The loosest wishes, to the chastest heart.
Raise such a conflict, kindle such a
Fire,
Betwixt declining
Vertue, and
Desire;
[Page 43] Till the poor vanquish't
Maid dissolves away,
In
Dreams all
Night, in
Sighs, and
Tears, all day.
D—, in vain try'd this nice way of wit,
For he to be a tearing
Blade, thought fit,
But when he wou'd be sharp; he still was blunt,
To frisk his frollique fancy, he'd cry
C—t,
Wou'd give the
Ladies, a dry
Bawdy bob,
And thus got the name of
Poet Squab.
But to be just, 'twill to his praise be found,
His
Excellencies more than faults abound,
Nor dare I from his sacred Temples tear,
That
Lawrel, which he best deserves to wear,
But does not
D—, find ev'n
Johnson dull?
Fletcher and
Beaumont, uncorrect, and full,
Olewd
Lines, as he calls 'em?
Shake-spears stile
Stiff and affected; to his own the while,
Allowing all the justness that his Pride,
So Arrogantly had to these deny'd?
And may not I, have leave impartially,
To search, and censure
D—, Works, and try,
If those gross faults, his choice
Pen does commit,
Proceed from want of Judgment, or of Wit?
Or of his lumpish fancy, does refuse,
Spirit and Grace, to his loose slattern
Muse?
Five hundred Verses, ev'ry
Morning writ,
Proves you no more a
Poet, than a
Wit:
Such scribling
Authors, have been seen before
Mustapha, the
English Princess, Forty more,
Were things perhaps compos'd in half an hour,
To write what may securely stand the
Test,
Of being well read over
thrice at least;
Weigh ev'ry
Word, and ev'ry
Thought refine;
Scorn all applause, the vile
Rout can bestow,
And be content to please those few who know.
Canst thou be such a vain mistaken thing,
To wish thy
Works might make a
Play-house ring.
With the unthinking Laughter, and poor praise,
Of
Fops, and
Ladies, Factious for thy
Plays?
Then send a cunning
Friend to learn thy doom,
From the shrewd Judges of the
drawing Room.
I've no
Ambition on that idle score,
But say with
Betty M—, heretofore,
When a
Court Lady, call'd her
B—, Whore;
I please one
Man of
Wit, am proud on't too,
Let all the
Coxcombs, dance to
Bed to you.
Shou'd I be troubled when the Pur-blind
Knight,
Who squints more in his Judgment, than his sight,
Picks silly faults, and censures what I write?
Or when the poor-fed
Poets of the
Town
For Scraps, and Coach-room cry my Verses down?
I loath the
Rabble, 'tis enough for me,
If
S—, S—, S—, W—,
G—, B—, B—, B—,
And some few more, whom I omit to name,
Approve my sense, I count their censure
Fame.
In defence of Satyr.
WHen
Shakes. Johns. Fletcher, rul'd the Stage,
They took so bold a freedom with the Age,
That there was scarce a
Knave, or
Fool, in
Town,
Of any note, but had his
Picture shown;
And (without doubt) though some it may offend,
Nothing helps more than
Satyr, to amend
Ill Manners, or is trulier
Vertues Friend.
Princes, may
Laws ordain,
Priests gravely Preach,
But
Poets, most successfully will teach.
For as a passing
Bell, frights from his
Meat,
The greedy
Sick man: that too much wou'd Eat;
So when a
Vice, ridiculous is made,
Our
Neighbors shame, keeps us from growind bad.
But wholesome remedies, few
Palates please,
Men rather love, what flatters their Disease;
Pimps, Parasites, Buffoons, and all the
Crew,
That under
Friendships name, weak Man undoe;
Find their false Service, kindlier understood,
Than such as tell bold
Truths to do us good.
Look where you will, and you shall hardly find,
A
Man, without some sickness of the
Mind.
In vain we wise wou'd seem, while ev'ry
Lust,
VVhisks us about, as
VVhirlwinds do the
Dust.
Here for some needless Gain,
VVretch is hurl'd,
From
Pole, to
Pole, and
Slav'd about the
World;
[Page 46] While the reward of all his pains, and Care,
Ends in that despicable thing, his
Heir.
There a vain
Fop, Mortgages all his
Land,
To buy that gawdy
Play-thing a
Command,
To ride a
Cock-Horse, wear a Scarfe, at's Arse,
And play the
Pudding, in a
May-day-farce.
Here one whom
God to make a
Fool, thought fit,
In spight of
Providence, will be a
Wit.
But wanting strength, t'uphold his ill made choice,
Sets up with Lewdness, Blasphemy, and Noise,
There at his
Mrs. Feet, a
Lover lyes
And for a tawdrey, painted
Baby dyes.
Falls on his Knees, adores, and is afraid,
Of the vain
Idol, he himself has made.
These, and a thousand
Fools unmention'd here,
Hate
Poets all, because they
Poets fear
Take heed (they cry) yonder
Mad Dog will bite,
He cares not whom he falls on in his fit;
Come but in's way, and strait a new
Lampoone
Shall spread your mangled
Fame about the
Town,
But why am I this
Bug-bear to ye all?
My
Pen is dipt in no such bitter Gall.
He that can rail at one he calls his
Friend,
Or hear him absent wrong'd, and not defend;
Who for the sake of some ill natur'd Jeast,
Tells what he shoul'd conceal, Invents the rest;
To fatal
Mid-night quarrels, can betray,
His brave
Companion, and then run away;
Leaving him to be murder'd in the
street,
Then put it off, with some
Buffoone Conceit;
This, this is he, you shou'd beware of all,
Yet him a pleasant, witty
Man, you call
[Page 47] To whet your dull Debauches up, and down,
You seek him as top
Fidler of the
Town.
But if I laugh when the
Court Coxcombs show,
To see that
Booby Sotns dance
Provoe.
Or chatt'ring
Porus, from the Side
Box grin,
Trickt like a
Ladys Monkey new made clean.
To me the name of
Railer, strait you give,
Call me a
Man that knows not how to live.
But
Wenches to their
Keepers, true shall turn,
Stale
Maids of Honor, proffer'd
Husbands scorn,
Great
States-man, flatt'ry, and Clinches hate,
And long in Ossice dye without
Estate.
Against a
Bribe, Court Judges, shall decide,
The
City Knav'ry want, the
Clergy Pride.
E're that black
Malice, in my Rhymes you find,
That wrongs a worthy
Man, or hurts a
Friend.
But then perhaps you'll say, why do you write?
What you think harmless
Mirth, the World thinks
Spight.
Why shou'd your
Fingers itch to have a lash.
At
Simius, the
Buffoon, or
Cully Bash?
What is't to you, if
Alidores fine
Whore,
Fucks with some
Fop, whilst he's shut out of
Door?
Consider pray, that dang'rous
Weapon Wit,
Frightens a
Million, when a few you hit.
Whip but a
Curr, as you ride through a
Town,
And strait his
Fellow Currs the Quarrel own,
Each
Knave, or
Fool, that's conscious of a Crime,
Tho he scapes now, looks for't another time.
Sir, I confess all you have said is true,
But who has not some
Folly to pursue?
When the
fifth Bottle, had encreas'd the
Lights.
War-like Dirt Pyes, our
Heroe Paris forms,
Which desp'rate
Bessus, without
Armour storms.
Cornus, the kind
Husband, e're was born.
Still Courts the
Spark, that does his
Brows adorn.
Invites him home to dine, and fills his
Veins,
With the hot Blood, which his dear
Doxy drains.
Grandio thinks himself a
Beau-Garcon,
Goggles his
Eyes, writes
Letters up and down;
And with his sawch
Love, plagues all the
Town.
While pleas'd to have his Vanity thus fed,
He's caught with
G—, that old
Hag a Bed.
But shou'd I all the crying
Follies tell,
That rouse the sleeping
Sayter from his
Cell.
I to my
Reader, shou'd as tedious prove,
As that old
Spark, Albanus making love:
Or florid
Roscius, when with some smooth flam,
He gravely on the publick, tries to sham.
Hold then my
Muse, 'tis time to make an end,
Least taxing others, thou thy self offend.
The
World's a
Wood, in which all loose their way,
Though by a diff'rent
Path, each goes
Astray.
On the suppos'd Authour of a late Poem in defence of Satyr.
TO rack, and torture thy unmeaning
Brain,
In
Satyrs praise, to a low untun'd strain,
In thee was most impertinent and vain.
When in thy
Person, we more clearly see,
That
Satyr's of Divine Authority,
For
God, made one on
Man, when he made thee.
To shew there were some
Men, as there are
Apes.
Fram'd for meer sport, who differ but in shapes:
In thee are all these contradictions joynd,
That make an
Asse, prodigious and refin'd.
A lump deform'd, and shapeless wert thou born.
Begot in
Loves despit, and
Natures scorn;
And art grown up the most ungraceful
Wight,
Harsh to the
Ear, and hideous to the sight,
Yet
Love's thy bus'ness,
Beauty thy delight.
Curse on that silly hour, that first inspir'd,
Thy madness, to pretend to be admir'd;
To paint thy grizly
Face to dance, to dress,
And all those Awkward
Follies that express,
Thy loathsome Love, and filthy daintiness.
Who needs will be a Ugly
Beau-Garcon,
Spit at, and shun'd, by ev'ry
Girl in
Town;
Where dreadfully
LovesScare-Crow, thou art plac'd
To fright the tender
Flock, that long to taste:
While ev'ry coming
Maid, when you appear,
Starts back for shame, and strait turns chaste for fear.
[Page 50] For none so poor, or
Prostitute have prov'd,
Where you made love, t'endure to be belov'd.
'Twere-labour lost, or else I wou'd advise.
But thy half
Wit, will ne're let thee be wise.
Half-witty, and half-mad, and scarce half-brave,
Half-honest (which is very much a
Knave.)
Made up of all these halfs, thou can'st not pass
For any thing intirely, but an
Ass.
The Answer.
RAile on poor feeble
Scribler, speak of me,
In as bad Terms, as the
World speaks o thee.
Sit swelling in thy Hole, like a vext
Toad,
And full of
Pox, and
Malice, spit abroad.
Thou can'st hurt no
Mans Fame, with thy ill word
Thy Pen, is full as harmless as thy Sword.
Seneca's Troas, Act. 2. Chorus.
AFter Death, nothing is, and nothing, Death
The utmost Limits of a gasp of Breath:
Let the ambitious Zealot, lay aside,
His hopes of
Heav'n (where Faith is but his pride)
Let
Slavish Souls, lay by their Fear,
Nor be concern'd, which way, nor where.
After this life they shall be hurl'd,
Dead, we become the
Lumber of the
world;
And to that
Mass of
Matter shall be swept,
Where things destroy'd, with things Unborn, are kept.
Devouring time swallows up whole,
Impartial
Death confounds
Body and
Soul.
For
Hell, and the foul
Fiend, that rules,
Gods everlasting fiery
Goales,
Devis'd by
Rogues, dreaded by
Fools;
(With his grim griezly
Dog, that keeps the
Door)
Are senseless
Stories, idle
Tales,
Dreams, Whimseys, and no more.
Vpon Nothing.
1
NOthing thou
Elder Brother ev'n to shade,
Thou hadst a Being, e're the
World was made,
And (well fixt) art alone of ending not afraid,
2
E're time, and place, were, time, and place, were not
When
Primitive Nothing, something strait begot,
Then all Proceeded from the great united—What?
3
Something, the gen'ral
Attribute of all,
Sever'd, from thee, it's sole
Original,
Into thy boundless self, must undistinguish'd fall.
4
Yet something did thy mighty pow'r command.
And from thy fruitful emptinesses hand,
Snatcht
Men, Beasts, Birds, Fire, Aire, and
Land.
5
Matter, the wicked'st
Off-spring of thy
Race,
By forme assisted, flew from thy embrace,
And
Rebel Light, obscur'd thy reverend dusky Face.
6
With form and
Matter, time, and place, did join,
Body, thy
Foe, with thee did
Leagues combine,
To spoil thy peaceful
Realm, and ruine all thy
Line.
7
But
Turn-Coat-Time, assists the
Foe in vain,
And brib'd by thee, assists the short liv'd
Reign,
And to thy hungry
VVomb, drives back thy
Slaves again.
8
Tho
Mysteries are barr'd from
Laich-Eyes,
And the Divine alone, with
VVarrant pryes,
Into thy
Bosome, where thy truth in private lyes.
9
Yet this of thee, the wise may freely say,
Thou from the
Virtuous, nothing tak'st away,
And to be part of thee, the
VVicked wisely pray.
10
Great
Negative, how vainly wou'd the
Wise,
Enquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise,
Didst thou not stand to point their dull
Philosophies
11
Is, or is not, the two great ends of
Fate,
And true, or false, the Subject of debate,
That pefect, or destroy, the vast designs of
Fate.
12
When they have rack'd the
Politicians Breast,
Within thy
Bosome, most securely rest,
And when reduc'd to thee, are least unsafe, & best.
13
But
Nothing, why does something still permit,
That Sacred
Monarchs, shou'd at
Councel sit,
With
Persons highly thought, at best, for
Nothing fit.
14
Whil'st weighty
Something, modestly abstains,
From
Princes Coffers, and from
States-Mens Brains,
And
Nothing there, like stately
Nothing reings.
15
Nothing who dwellst with
Fools, in grave disguise,
For whom they Reverend shapes, & formes devise.
Lawn-sleeves, &
Furrs, &
Gowns when they like thee look wise.
16.
French Truth,
Dutch Prowess,
British Policy,
Hybernian Learning,
Scotch Civility,
Spaniards dispatch,
Danes Wit, are mainly seen in thee.
17
The great
Mans gratitude, to his best
Frend,
King Promises,
Whores Vows, towards thee they bend,
Flow swiftly into thee, and in thee ever end.
Vpon his leaving his Mistriss.
TIs not that I'm weary grown,
Of being yours, and yours alone,
But with what
Face can I incline,
To damn you to be only mine?
You whom some kinder
Pow'r did fashion,
By merit, and by inclination,
The joy at least of one whole
Nation.
Let meaner Spirits of your
Sex
With humbler aims, their thoughts perplex,
And boast, if by their
Arts they can,
Contrive to make one happy
Man;
Whilst mov'd by an impartial Sense,
Favours like
Nature you dispence,
With Universal influence.
See the kind Seed-receiving Earth,
To ev'ry Grain affords a
Birth;
On her no Show'rs unwelcome fall,
Her willing
Womb, retains 'em all,
And shall my
Celia be confin'd?
No, live up to thy mighty
Mind,
And be the Mistriss of
Mankind.
Song.
IN the
Fields of
Lincolns Inn,
Underneath a tatter'd
Blanket,
On a
Flock-Bed, God be thanked,
Feats of Active Love were seen.
Phillis, who you know loves Swiving,
As the
Gods love pious
Pray'rs;
Lay most pensively contriving,
How to Fuck with
Pricks by pairs.
Coridon's aspiring
Tarse,
Which to
Cunt, had ne're submitted;
Wet with Am'rous Kiss she fitted,
To her less frequented Ar—
Strephon's, was a handful longer,
Stiffly propt with eager
Lust;
None for
Champion, was more stronger,
This into her
Cunt he thrust.
Now for Civil
Wars prepare,
Rais'd by fierce intestine bustle.
When these
Heroes meeting justle,
In the
Bowels of the fair.
They tilt, and thrust with horrid pudder,
Blood, and slaughter is decreed;
Hurling Souls at one another,
Wrapt in flakey
Clotts of
Seed.
Nature had 'twixt
C—t and
A-se,
Wisely plac'd firm separation;
God knows else what desolation
Had ensu'd from
Warring Tarse.
Though
Fate, a dismal end did threaten,
It prov'd no worse than was desir'd.
The
Nymph was sorely
Ballock beaten,
Both the
Shepherds soundly tir'd.
Vpon his drinking a Bowl.
VVlean contrive me such a Cup,
As
Nestor us'd of old;
Shew all thy skill to trim it up,
Damask it round with
Gold.
Make it so large, that fill'd with
Sack,
Up to the swelling brim;
Vast Toasts, on the delicious
Lake,
Like
Ships at
Sea may swim.
Engrave not
Battail on his Cheek,
With
VVar, I've nought to do;
I'm none of those that took
Mastrich,
Nor
Yarmouth Leager knew.
Let it no name of
Planets tell,
Fixt
Stars, or
Constellations;
For I am no Sir
Sydrophell,
Nor none of his
Relations.
But carve thereon a spreading
Vine,
Then add Two lovely
Boys;
Their Limbs in Amorous folds intwine,
The
Type, of future joys.
Cupid, and
Bacchus, my
Saints are,
May drink, and Love, still reign,
With
VVine, I wash away my cares,
And then to
Cunt again.
Song.
AS
Cloris full of harmless thoughts,
Beneath a
Willow lay;
Kind
Love a youthful
Shepherd brought,
To pass the time away.
She blusht to be encounter'd so,
And chid the Amorous
Swain;
But as she strove to rise and go,
He pull'd her down again.
A sudden
Passion seiz'd her
Heart,
In spight of her disdain;
She found a Pulse in ev'ry part,
And Love in ev'ry
Vain.
Ah you (said she) what
Charmes are these,
That conquer and surprise;
Ah let me—for unless you please,
I have no Pow'r to rise.
She fainting spoke, and trembling lay,
For fear he shou'd comply;
Her lovely
Eyes, her
Heart betray,
And gives her
Tongue the lye.
Thus she, whom
Princes had deny'd,
With all their
Pomp and
Train;
Was in the lucky
Minute try'd,
And yielded to the
Swain.
Song.
QUoth the
Dutchess of
Cl—, to Mrs.
Kn—
I'd fain have a
Prick, but how to come by't;
I desire you'le be secret, and give your advice,
Though Cunt be not coy, Reputation is nice.
To some
Cellar, in
Sodom, your
Grace must retire,
There
Porters, with Black-pots, sit round a
Coal-fire;
There open your
Case, and your
Grace cannot fail,
Of a douzen of
Pricks, for a douzen of
Ale.
Is't so quoth the
Dutchess? Ah by God, quoth the
Whore.
Then give me the
Key, that unlocks the Back-dore;
For I had rather be fuckt by
Porters, and
Car-men,
Then thus be abus'd by
C—, and
G—
Song.
I Rise at Eleven, I Dine obout Two,
I get drunk before Seven, and the next thing I do;
I send for my
Whore, when for fear of a
Clap,
I Spend in her hand, and I Spew in her
Lap:
There we quarrel, and scold, till I fall asleep,
[Page 60] When the
Bitch, growing bold, to my Pocket does creep;
Then slyly she leaves me, and to revenge th' affront,
At once she bereaves me of
Money and
Cunt.
If by chance then I wake, hot-headed, and drunk
What a coyle do I make for the loss of my
Punk?
I storm, and I roar, and I fall in a rage,
And missing my
Whore, I bugger my
Page:
Then crop-sick, all
Morning, I rail at my
Men,
And in Bed I lye Yawning, till Eleven again.
Song.
LOve a
Woman! y'are an
Ass,
'Tis a most insipid Passion
To choose out for your happiness!
The idlest part of
Gods Creation.
Let the
Porter, and the
Groome,
Things design'd for dirty
Slaves,
Drudge in fair
Aurelias Womb,
To get supplies for Age, and Graves.
Farewel
Woman, I intend,
Henceforth, ev'ry
Night to sit,
With my lewd well natur'd
Friend,
Drinking, to engender
Wit.
Then give me
Health, Wealth, Mirth, and
Wine,
And if busie
Love, intrenches,
There's a sweet soft
Page, of mine,
Does the trick worth
Forty Wenches.
Song to Cloris.
FAir
Cloris in a
Pig-Stye, lay,
Her tender
Herd, lay by her,
She slept in murm'ring gruntlings, they
Complaining of the scorching Day,
Her slumbers thus inspire.
She dreamt, while she with careful pains,
Her snow Arms employ'd,
In
Ivory Pailes, to fill out
Grains,
One of her Love convicted
Swaynes,
Thus hasting to her cry'd.
Fly
Nymph! O fly! e're 'tis too late,
A dear lov'd life to save,
Rescue your Bosom
Pig, from
Fate,
Who now expires, hung in the Gate,
That leads to yonder
Cave.
My self had try'd to set him free,
Rather than brought the
News,
But I am so abhorr'd by thee,
That ev'n thy
Darlings life from me,
I know thou woud'st refuse.
Struck with the News, as quick the flyes,
As blushes to her
Face;
Not the bright
Lightning from the
Skies,
Nor
Love, shot from her brighter Eyes,
Move half so swift a pace.
This Plot, it seems the lustful,
Slave,
Had laid against her
Honor,
Which not one
God, took care to save,
For he pursues her to the
Cave,
And throws himself upon her.
Now pierced is her
Virgin Zone,
She feels the
Foe within it,
She hears a broken Am'rous groan,
The panting
Lovers fainting moan,
Just in the happy
Minute.
Frighted she wakes, and waking Friggs,
Nature thus kindly eas'd,
In dreams rais'd by her murm'ring
Piggs,
And her own Thumb between her
Legs,
She innocent and pleas'd.
Song.
GIve me leave to rail at you,
I ask nothing but my due;
To call you false, and then to say,
You shall not keep my Heart a day.
But alas! against my will,
I must be your
Captive still.
Ah! be kinder then, for I
Cannot change, and wou'd not dye.
Kindness has resistless charmes,
All besides, but weakly move,
Fiercest Anger it disarmes,
And clips the Wings of flying love.
Beauty, does the
Heart invade,
Kindness only can perswade;
It guilds the
Lovers, servile
Chain,
And makes the
Slave, grow pleas'd again.
The Answer.
NOthing adds to your fond Fire,
More than scorn, and cold disdain,
I to cherish your desire,
Kindness us'd, but 'twas in vain.
You insulted on your
Slave,
Humble love you soon refus'd,
Hope not then a pow'r to have,
When ingloriously you us'd.
Think not
Thirsis, I will e're,
By my love my
Empire loose;
You grow constant through despair,
Love return'd, you wou'd abuse.
Though you still possess my
Heart,
Scorne, and rigor, I must feign.
Ah! forgive that only Art,
Love has left, your love to gain.
You that cou'd my
Heart subdue,
To new
Conquests ne're pretend,
Let your example make me true,
And of a Conquer'd
Foe, a
Friend:
Then if e're I shou'd complain,
Of your
Empire, or my
Chain,
Summon all your pow'rful Charmes,
And sell the
Rebel, in your Armes.
Song.
PHilis, be gentler I advise,
Make up for time mispent,
When
Beauty, on its
Death-bed lyes
'Tis high time to repent.
Snch is the
Malice of your
Fate,
That makes you old so soon,
Your pleasure ever comes too late,
How early e're begun.
Think what a wretched thing is she,
Whose
Stars, contrive in spight,
The
Morning of her love shou'd be,
Her faiding
Beauties Night.
Then if to make your ruin more,
You'll peevishly be coy,
Dye with the scandal of a
Whore,
And never know the joy.
Song.
VVHat cruel pains
Corinna, takes,
To force that harmless frown,
[Page 66] When not a Charme her
Face, forsakes;
Love, cannot loose his own.
So sweet a
Face, so soft a
Heart,
Such
Eyes, so very kind,
Betray alas! the silly Art,
Virtue had ill design'd.
Poor feeble
Tyrant, who in vain,
Wou'd proudly take upon her,
Against kind
Nature, to maintain,
Affected Rules of
Honor.
The scorn she bears, so helpless proves
When I plead passion to her,
That much she fears, but more she loves,
Her
Vassal shou'd undo her.
Womans Honor.
L Ove, bad me hope, and I obey'd,
Philis continu'd still unkind,
Then you may e'ne despair he said
In vain I strive to change her
Mind.
Honor's got in, and keeps her
Heart;
Durst he but venture once abroad,
In my own right I'd take your part,
And shew my self the mightier
God,
This huffing
Honour domineers,
In
Breast alone, where he has place;
But if true gen'rous
Love appears,
The
Hector dare not shew his
Face
Let me still Languish and complain,
Be most unhumanely deny'd,
I have some pleasure in my pain,
She can have none with all her
Pride.
I fall a Sacrifice to
Love,
She lives a
VVretch for
Honours sake,
Whose
Tyrant does most cruel prove,
The difference is not hard to make.
Consider real
Honour then,
You'll find hers cannot be the same,
'Tis Noble confidence in
Men,
In
VVomen, mean mistrustful shame.
Song.
TO this moment a
Rebel I throw down my Arms,
Great
Love, at first sight
[...]f
Olindas, bright charmes,
Made proud, and secure, by such
[...]orces as these,
You may now play the
Tyrant, as soon as you please.
When Innocence
Beauty, and
VVit do conspire,
To betray, aud engage, and inflame my desire.
Why shou'd I decline, what I cannot avoid;
And let pleasing hope, by base fear be destroy'd.
Her innocence cannot contrive to undo me,
Her
Beauty's inclin'd, or why shou'd it persue me?
And
VVit, has to pleasure, been ever a
Friend,
Then what room for despar, since delight is
Loves end.
There can be no danger in sweetness, and youth,
Where
Love, is secur'd by good nature and truth.
On her
Beauty I'll gaze, and of pleasure complain,
While ev'ry kind look adds a
Link to my
Chain.
Tis more to maintain, that in was to surprize,
But het
VVit leads in triumph the
Slave of her Eyes,
I beheld, with the loss of my freedom before,
But hearing, for ever must serve and adore.
Too bright is my
Goddess, her
Temple too weak,
Retire Divine
Image, I feel my
Heart break,
Help
Love! I dissolve in a
Rapture of
Charms,
At the thought of those joys, I shou'd meet in her Armes.
Song.
HOw happy
Cloris (were they free)
Might our enjoyments prove?
But you with formal
Jealousie,
Are still tormenting
Love.
Let us (since
Wit instructs us how)
Raise Pleasure to the top,
If
Rival Bottle, you'll allow,
I'll suffer
Rival Fop.
Ther's not a brisk insipid
Spark,
That flutters in the
Town,
But with your wanton
Eyes you mark,
The
Coxcomb for your own.
You never think it worth your care,
How empty, nor how dull,
The
Heads of your admirers are,
So that their
Cods be full.
All this you freely may confess,
Yet we'll not disagree;
For did you love your pleasure less,
You were not fit for me.
While I my passion to persue,
Am whole
Nights taking in,
The lusty
Juice of
Grapes, take you
The lusty
Juice of
Men.
Love and Life, a Song.
ALL my past Life is mine no more,
The flying hours are gone;
Like transitory
Dreams giv'n o're,
Whose
Images are kept in store,
By
Memory alone.
What ever is to come, is not,
How can it then be mine?
The present
Moment's all my
Lot,
And that as fast as it is got,
Phillis, is wolly thine.
Then talk not of inconstancy,
False
Hearts, and broken
Vows,
If I by
Miracle can be,
This live-long
Minute true to thee,
'Twas all that
Heav'n allows.
The Fall, a Song.
HOw blest was the Created
State,
Of
Man, and
Woman, e're they fell,
Compar'd to our unhappy
Fate;
We need not fear another
Hell.
Naked beneath cool Shades they lay,
Enjoyment waited on desire.
Each
Member did their wills obey,
Nor cou'd a wish, set pleasure higher.
But we poor
Slaves, to hope and fear,
Are never of our joys secure.
They lessen still as they draw near.
And none but dull delights endure.
Then
Cloris, while I duty pay,
The
Noble Tribute of my
Heart.
Be not you so severe to say,
You love me for a frailer part.
Song.
VVHile on those lovely looks I graze,
To see a
Wretch pursuing,
In
Raptures of a blest amaze.
This pleasing happy ruin.
Tis not for pitty, that I move,
His Fate is too aspiring,
Whose
Heart, broke with a
Load of love,
Dyes wishing, and admiring.
But if this
Murder you'd forgo,
Your
Slave from Death removing.
Let me your Art of Charming know,
Or learn you mine of Loving.
But whether Life, or Death betide,
In love, 'tis equal measure.
The
Victor lives with empty pride,
The
Vanquisht dye with pleasure.
Song.
BY all
Loves soft, yet mighty
Pow'rs.
It is a thing unfit,
That
Men shou'd Fuck in time of
Flow'rs;
Or when the
Smock's beshit.
Fair nasty
Nymph, be clean and kind,
And all my joys restore;
By using Paper still behind,
And Spunges for before,
My spotless
Flames can ne're decay,
If after ev'ry close,
My smoaking
Prick escape the
Fray,
Without a Bloody
Nose.
If thou wou'dst have me true, be kind,
And take to cleanly sinning;
None but fresh
Lovers Pricks can rise,
At
Fillis in foul linnen.
Song.
ROom, room, for a
Blade of the
Town,
That takes delight in Roaring,
And daily Rambles up and down,
And at
Night in the Street lyes Snoaring,
[Page 73] That for the noble name of
Spark,
Dares his
Companions rally;
Commits an out-rage in the dark,
Then slinks into an
Alley.
To ev'ry
Female that he meets,
He swears he bares affection,
Defies all
Laws, Arrests, and Feats,
By the help of a kind
Protection.
Then he intending further wrongs:
By some resenting
Cully,
Is decently run through the
Lungs,
And there's an end of
Bully.
Song.
AGainst the Charmes our
Ballocks have,
How weak all humane skill is?
Since they can make a
Man a
Slave,
To such a
Bitch as
Phillis.
Whom that I may describe throughout,
Assist me
Bawdy Pow'rs,
I'll write upon a double
Clout,
And dip my
Pen in
Flowr's,
Her look's demurely impudent,
Ungainly
Beautiful,
Her
Modesty is insolent,
Her Mirth is pert and dull.
A
Prostitute, to all the
Town,
And yet with no
Man Friends,
She rails, and scolds, when she lyes down,
And curses when she spends.
Bawdy in thoughts, precise in words,
Ill natur'd, and a
Whore,
Her
Belly, is a
Bag of
T-rds,
And her
C—t, a common shore.
Song.
I Cannot change as others do
Though you unjustly scorn
Since that poor
Swayne that sighs for you
For you alone was born.
No
Phillis, no, your
Heart to move,
A surer way I'll try
And to revenge my slighted love
Will still love on, will still love on, and dye.
When kill'd with grief
Amyntas lyes
And you to mind shall call,
The sighs that now unpitty'd rise
The Tears that vainly fall;
That welcome hour that ends this smart
Will then begin your pain,
For such a faithful tender
Heart
Can never break, can never break in vain.
The Mock Song.
I Swive as well as others do,
I'm young, not yet deform'd,
My tender Heart, sincere, and true,
Deserves not to be scorn'd.
Why
Phillis then, why will you swive,
With
Forty Lovers more?
Can I (said she) with
Nature strive,
Alas I am, alas I am a
Whore.
Were all my Body larded o're,
With Darts of love, so thick,
That you might find in ev'ry
Pore,
A well stuck standing
Prick;
Whilst yet my
Eyes alone were free,
My Heart, wou'd never doubt,
In Am'rous Rage, and Extasie,
To wish those
Eyes, to wish those
Eyes suckt out.
Actus Primus Scena Prima.
Enter Tarsander and Swiveanthe.
The Scene.
A Bed-Chamber.
Tar.
FOr standing
Tarses we kind Nature thank,
And yet adore those
Cunts that make 'em lank;
Unhappy
Mortals! whose sublimest joy,
Preys on it self, and does it self destroy.
Swi.
Do not thy
Tarse, Natures best gift, despise,
That
C—t, that made it fall, will make it rise;
Though it a while the Amorous Combat shun,
And seems from mine, into thy
Belly run;
Yet 'twill return, more vig'rous, and more fierce;
Than flaming
Drunkard, when he's dy'd in Tierce,
It but retires, as loosing
Gamesters do,
Till they have rais'd a Stock to play a new.
Tar.
What pleasure has a
Gamster, if he knows,
When e're he plays, that he must always loose?
Swi.
What
Pego looses, 't were a pain to keep,
We say not that our Nights are lost in sleep;
What pleasures we in those soft
Wars employ,
We do not wast, but to the full enjoy.
[ex Tarsander,
[Page 77] Enter Celia.
Cel.
Madam, methings those sleepy Eyes declare,
Too lately you have eas d a
Lovers care;
I fear you have with interest repaid,
Those eager thrusts, which at your
Cunt he made.
Swi.
With force united, my soft
Heart he storm'd,
Like Age he doated, but like Youth perform'd.
She that alone her
Lover can withstand,
Is more than
Woman, or he less than
Man.
[Exeunt.
The first Letter from B. to Mr. E.
DReaming last
Night on Mrs
Farley,
My
Prick was up this
Morning early;
And I was fain without my
Gown,
To rise i'th cold, to get him down.
Hard shift alas, but yet a sure,
Although it be no pleasing cure.
Of Old, the fair
Aegyptian Slattern,
For
Luxury, that had no
Pattern,
To fortifie her
Roman Swinger,
Instead of
Nutmegs, Mace and
Ginger,
Did spice his
Bow'ls (as
Story tells)
With
Warts of
Rocks, and
Spawn of
Shells.
It had been happy for her
Grace,
Had I been in the
Rascalls place.
I who do scorn that any Stone,
Shou'd raise my
Pintle, but my own.
[Page 78] Had laid her down on ev'ry
Couch,
And spard'd her
Pearl, and
Diamond Brouch,
Until her Hot-taild
Majesty,
Being happily reclaim'd by me,
From all her wild expensive ways,
Had worne her
Gems on
Holy Days.
But since her
C— has long done itching,
Let us discourse of
Modern Bitching.
I must intreat you by this Letter,
To enquire for
Whores, the more the better:
Hunger makes any man a
Glutton,
If
Roberts, Thomas, Mrs.
Dutton.
Or any other
Bawd of note,
Inform of a fresh
Petticoat.
Enquire, I pray, with
Friendly care,
Where their respective
Lodgings are.
Some do compare a
Man t' a
Barque,
A pretty
Metaphor, pray mark,
And with a long and tedious story,
Will all the
Tackling lay before ye.
The
Sails are Hope, the
Masts desire,
Till they the gentlest
Reader tire.
But howso'ere they keep a pudder,
I'm sure the
Pintle is the
Rudder.
The pow'rful
Rudder, which of force,
To
Town, must shortly steer my Course;
And if you do not there provide
A
Port, where I may safely ride.
Landing in haste, in some foul
Creek,
'Tis ten to one, I spring a
Leak.
Next, I must make it my request,
If you have any interest;
[Page 79] Or can by any means discover,
Some lamentable Rhyming
Lover,
Who shall in Numbers harsh and vile,
His
Mistriss, Nymph, or
Goddess stile.
Send all his Labours down to me,
By the first opportunity.
Or any
Knights of your round
Table
To other
Scriblers formidable.
Guilty themselves of the same
Crime,
Dress
Nonsense up in ragged
Rhyme,
As once a
Week, they seldome fail,
Inspir'd with
Love, and
Grid-Iron Ale.
Or any paultery
Poetry,
Tho from the
Vniversity.
Who when the
K— and
Q— were there,
Did both their
Wit and
Learning spare;
And have (I hope) endeavour'd since,
To make the
World some recompence.
Such damn'd
Fustian, when you meet,
Be not too rash, or indiscreet;
Tho they can find no just excuses,
To put 'em to their proper uses;
Tho fatal
Privy, or the
Fire,
Their Nobler
Foe, at my desire.
Restrain your nat'rall profuseness,
And spare'em, though you have a looseness.
Mr. E—s Answer.
AS crafty
Harlots, use to shrink,
From
Letchers, dos'd with sleep and drink
When they intend to make up
Pack,
By silching
Sheets, or
Shirt from
Back,
So were you pleas'd to steal away
From me, whilst on your
Bed I lay:
But long you had not been departed,
When pincht with cold from thence I started;
Where missing you, I stampt and star'd,
Like
Bacon, when he wak'd and heard,
His
Brazen Head, in vain had spoke,
And saw it lye in pieces broke,
Sighing, I to my Chamber make,
And ev'ry
Limb, was stiff as
Stake.
Unless poor
Pego, which did feel,
Like slimey Skin of new stript
Eele,
Or
Pudding, that mischance had got;
And spent it self half in the
Pot.
With care, I cleans'd the sneaking
Varlet,
That late had been in
Pool of
Harlot.
But neither
Shirt, nor
Water cou'd,
Remove the stench of
Leach'rous Mud.
The
Queen of
Love from
Sea did spring,
Whence the best
C—ts still smell like
Ling.
But sure this damn'd notorious
Bitch,
Was made o'th froth of
Jane Shores Ditch,
Or else her
C—t cou'd never stink,
Like
Pump that's foul, or nasty
Sink.
When this was done, to Bed I went,
And the whole Day, in sleep I spent;
But the next Morning, fresh and gay,
As
Citizen, on
Holy Day;
I wander'd in the spacious
Town,
Amongst the
Bawds, of best renown!
To
Temple I a visit made,
Temple! the
Beauty of her
Trade!
The only
Bawd that ever I,
For want of
Whore cou'd occupy?
She made me Friends with
Mrs. Cuffley,
Whom we indeed had us'd too roughly;
For by a gentler way I found,
The
Whore, wou'd Fuck under ten Pound.
So resty
Jades, which scorn to stir,
Though oft provok'd by Switch, and spur:
By milder usage may be got,
To fall into their wonted Trot.
But what success I further had,
And what discov'ries good, and bad,
I made roving up, and down,
I'll tell you when you come to
Town.
Further, I have obey'd your motion,
Though much provok'd by
Pill, and
Potion,
And sent you down some paultry Rhymes,
The greatest grievance of our times;
When such as
Nature, never made
For
Poets dayly will invade
Wits Empire, both the
Stage, and
Press,
And which is worse, with good success.
The Second Letter from B— to Mr. E—
IF I can guess the
Devil choak me,
What horrid fury cou'd provoke thee,
To use thy railing, scurr'lous Wit,
'Gainst
C—t, and
Pr—k, the source of it:
For what but
C—t, and
Pr—k, does raise
Our thoughts to Songs, and Roundelays?
Enables ns to
Annagrams
And other Amorous flim flams?
Then we write
Plays, and so proceed,
To
Bays, the
Poets sacred
Weed
Hast no respect for
God Priapus?
That Antient Story, shall not scape us.
Priapus, was a
Roman God,
But in plain
English, Pr—k, and
Cod,
That pleas' their
Sisters, Wives, and
Daughters,
Guarded their
Pippins, and
Pomwaters,
For at the
Orchards utmost entry,
This mighty
Deity stood
Centry;
Invested in a tatter'd
Blanket,
To scare the
Mag-Pyes, from their
Banquet:
But this may serve to shew we trample,
On Rule, and Method, by example.
Of
Modern Authors, who do snap at all,
Will talk of
Caesar, in the
Capitol,
Of
Cimhius, Beams, and
Sols, bright Ray,
Known
Foe, to
Butter-milk, and
Whey,
Which softens
Wax, and hardens
Clay.
[Page 83] All this without the least connexion,
Which to say truth's enough to vex one;
But farewel all
Poetique dizziniss,
And now to come unto the business.
Tell the bright
Nymph, how sad, and pensively
E're since we us'd her so offensively,
In dismal shades, with Armes a cross,
I sit lamenting of my loss;
To
Eccho, I her Name commend,
Who has it now at her
Tongues end,
And
Parrot-like, repeats the same,
For shou'd you talk of
Tamberlyn,
Cussley! she cryes at the same time,
Though the last
Accents do not
Rhyme:
Far more than
Eccho, e're did yet,
For
Phillis, or bright
Amoret.
With
Pen-knife keen, of mod'rate size,
As bright and piercing as her
Eyes;
A glitt'ring
Weapon, which wou'd scorne,
To pair a
Nail, or cut a
Corn;
Upon the
Trees, of smoothest
Bark,
I carve her Name, or else her mark,
Which commonly's a bleeding
Heart,
A weeping
Eye, or flaming
Dart.
Here on a
Beech, like Am'rous
Sot,
I sometimes carve a True-loves
Knot;
There a tall
Oake, her name does bear,
In a large spreading
Character.
I chose the fairest, and the best
Of all the
Grove, among the rest.
I carv'd it on a
Lofty Pine,
Which who wept a pint of
Turpentine;
[Page 84] Such was the terror of her
Name,
By the report of evil Fame
Who tir'd with immoderate flight,
Had lodg'd upon its Boughs all Night.
The wary
Tree, who fear'd a
Clap,
And knew the vertue of his
Sap,
Dropt
Balsom into ev'ry
Wound,
And in an hours time was sound.
But you are unacquanted yet,
With half the pow'r of
Amoret,
For the can drink, as well as swive,
Her growing
Empire, still must thrive,
Our
Hearts weak
Forts, we must resign,
When
Beauty does it's forces joyn
With
Mans strong
Enemy, good Wine:
This I was told by my
Lord O B—,
A Man whose word, I much relie on,
He kept touch, and came down hither,
When thou wert scar'd with the foul
Weather:
But if thou wou'dst forgiven be,
Say that a
Cunt detained thee.
Cunt! whose strong Charmes, the World bewitches,
The joy of
Kings! the
Beggars Riches!
The
Courtiers, business,
States-mans leisure!
The tyr'd
Tinkers, ease, and pleasure!
Of which alas I've leave to prate,
But oh the rigor of my Fate!
For want of bouncing
Bona Roba!
Lasciva est nobis pagina vita proba.
For that Rhyme, I was fain to fumble,
When
Pegasus, begins to stumble,
'Tis time to rest, your very humble.
Mr. E—s. Answer.
SO soft, and Am'rously you write,
Of
Cunt, and
Pr—k, the
Cunts delight;
That were I still in
Lanthorn sweating,
Swallowing of
Bolus, or a spitting,
I shou'd forget each injury,
The Pockey
Whores, have offer'd me,
And only of my Fate complain,
Because I must from
C—t abstain.
The pow'rfull
Cunt! Whose very name?
Kindles in me an amorous flame!
Begins to make my
Pintle rise,
And long again to fight
Loves Prize!
Forgetful of those many Scarrs,
He was received in those
Wars.
This shews
Loves chiefest
Magick lyes,
In
Womens C—ts, not in their Eyes,
There
Cupid, does his
Revells keep,
There
Lovers, all their sorrows steep,
For having once but tasted that,
Our myseries are quite forgot.
This may suffice to let you know,
That I to
C—t, am not a
Foe,
Though you are pleas'd to think me so:
'Tis strange his Zeal shou'd be in suspition.
Who dyes a
Martyr, for's
Religion.
But now to give you an account
Of
Cussley, that
Whore Paramount!
And fills our
Youth, with
Love, and
Rage,
Who like fierce
Wolves, pursue the Game,
While secretly the
Lech'rous Dame,
With some choice
Gallant, takes her flight,
And in a Corner Fucks all Night.
Then the next
Morning, we all hunt,
To find whose
Fingers, smell of
Cunt.
With jealousie, and Envy mov'd,
Against the
Man that was belov'd.
Whilst you within some
Neighb'ring Grove,
Indite the Story of your love,
And with your
Pen-knife, keen, and bright,
On stately
Trees, your passion write,
So that each
Nymph that passes through,
Must envy her, and pity you;
We at the
Fleece, or at the
Bear,
With good
Case-knife, well whet on Stair:
A gentle
Weapon, made to feed
Mankind, and not to make 'em bleed;
A thousand am'rous fancies scrape,
There's not a
Pewter-dish, can scape,
Without her name, or Armes, which are,
The same that
Love, himself, does bear.
Here one to shew you
Love's no
Glutton,
I'th midst of Supper, leaves his
Mutton,
And on a greasie
Plate, with care,
Carves the bright Image of the
Fair.
Another, though adrunken
Sot,
Neglects his
Wine, and on the
Pot,
A band of naked
Cupids draws,
With
Pr—ks, no bigger than
Wheat Straws.
[Page 87] Then on a nasty
Candlestick,
One figures
Loves Hierogliphick,
A
Couchant Cunt, and
Rampant Prick.
And that the sight may more inflame,
The lookers on, subscribe her name,
Cuffley! her
Sexes Pride, and shame.
There's not a
Man but does discover.
By some such Action he's her
Lover,
But now 'tis time to give her over,
And let your
Lordship, know, you are
The
Mistriss, that employs our care;
Your absence makes us Melancholly,
Nor drink, nor
C—t, can make us jolly;
Unless wa've you within our Arms,
In whom there dwells diviner Charmes!
Then quit with speed the pensive
Grove,
And here in
Town, pursue your love;
Where at your coming, you shall find,
Your
Servants glad, your
Mistriss kind,
And all things devoted to your
Mind.
With your very Humble Servant.
On Mr. E—H— upon his B—P—
COme on ye
Criticks! find one fault who dare,
For read it backward, like a
Witches Pray'r.
'Twill do as well; throw not away your jeasts,
On solid
Nonsense, that abides all
Tests.
Wit, like
Tierce Clarret, when't begins to pall,
Neglected lyes, and's of no use at all;
But in its full perfection of decay,
Turns
Vinegar, and comes again in play.
This
Simile, shall stand in thy defence,
'Gainst such dull
Rogues, as now and then write sense.
He lyes dear
Ned, who says thy
Brain, is barren,
Where deep conceits, like
Vermin, breed in
Carrin;
Thou hast a
Brain, such as thou hast indeed,
On what else, shou'd thy
Worm of
Fancy feed?
Yet in a
Philbert, I have often known,
Maggots, survive, when all the
Kernell's gone.
Thy
Stile's the same, what ever be the
Theame,
As some digestions, turn all
Meat to
Phlegm.
Thy stumbling Founder'd
Jade, can Trot as high,
As any other
Pegasus, can fly.
As skillful
Dyvers, to the bottom fall,
Sooner than those, that cannot swim at all;
So in this way of writing, without thinking,
Thou hast a strange
Alacrity, in sinking.
[Page 87] Thou writ'st below, even thy own nat'ral parts,
And with acquir'd dullness, and new Arts,
Of study'd
Non-sense, tak'st kind
Readers hearts,
So the dull
Eele, moves nimbler in the
Mud,
Than all the swift
Finn'd Racers, of the Flood.
Therefore dear
Ned, at my advice forbear,
Such loud complaints 'gainst
Criticks to prefer,
Since thou art turn'd an Arrant
Libeller:
Thou sett'st thy Name, to what thy self does write,
Did ever
Libell, yet so sharply bite?
On the same Author upon his B—P—
AS when a
Bully, draws his Sword,
Though no
Man gives him a cross word;
And all perswasions are in vain,
To make him put it up again;
Each
Man draws too and falls upon him,
To take the wicked
Weapon from him:
Ev'n so
dear Ned, thy drsp'rate Pen,
No less disturbs all witty
Men:
And makes 'em wonder what a
Devil,
Provokes thee to be so uncivil;
When thou and all thy
Friends must know 'em,
Thou yet wilt dare to Print thy
Poem.
That poor
Currs fate, and thine are one,
Who has his
Tail pegg'd in a
Bone;
[Page 90] About he runs, no body,ll own him.
Men, Boys, and
Dogs, are all upon him.
And first the greater
Wtts, were at thee,
Now ev'ry little
Fool, will pat thee.
Fellows, that ne're were heard, or read of,
(If thou writ'st on) will write thy head off.
Thus
Mastives, only, have the knack,
To cast the
Bear, upon his
Back;
But when th' unwildy
Beast, is thrown,
Mu
[...]grills, will serve to keep him down.
On the same Author upon his New Vt—
THou damn'd
Antipodes to common sense,
Thou
Foyle to
Fluence! prethee tell from whence,
Does all this mighty
Rock of dullness spring,
Which in such
Loads thou to the
Stage dost bring?
Is't all thy own? or hast thou from
Snow-hill,
Th' assurance of some
Ballad making
Quill?
No, they fly higher yet; thy
Plays are such,
I'd swear they were translated uot of
Dutch:
And who the Devil, was e're yetso drunk,
To read the
Volumes of
Myn-Heer-Van Dunk?
Fain wou'd I know what Dyet thou dost keep,
If thou dost always, or dow never sleep?
Sure
Hasty Pudding, is thy chiefest
Dish,
With
Lights, and
Livers, and with stinking
Fish.
[Page 91]
Ox-cheek Tripe, Garbage, thou dost treat thy Brain
Which nobly pays this
Tribute back again.
With
Dazy Roots, thy dwafish
Muse is fed,
A
Gyants Body, with a
Pigmyes Head.
Canst thou not find 'mongst thy num'rous
Race,
One
Friend, so kind, to tell thee that thy
Play's;
Laught at by
Box, Pit, Gallery, nay
Stage,
And grown the naus'ous grievance of this Age!
Think on't a while, and thou wilt quickly find,
Thy
Body made for labour, not thy
Mind.
Nor other use of
Paper, thou shou'dst make,
But carry
Loads of
Rhymes, upon thy
Back;
Carry vast
Burthens till thy Shoulders shrink,
But curst be he, that giues thee
Pen, and
Ink,
Those dang'rous
Weapons, shou'd be kep from
Fools,
As
Nurse from their
Children, keep
Edge-tools.
For thy dull
Muse, a
Muckender were fit,
To wipe the slav'rings of her Infant Wit:
Which though 'tis late (if
Justice cou'd be found.
Shou'd like blind, new born
Puppy's, yet be drown'd)
For were it not we must respect afford,
To any
Muse, that's
Grand-chil, to a
Lord;
Thine, in the
Ducking-stool, shou'd take her Seat,
Drencht like her self, in a great Chair of
State,
Where like a
Muse, of
Quality, she'll dye,
And thou thy self, shalt make her
Elegy,
In the same Strain, thou writ'st thy Comedy.
The Disappointment.
1.
ONe Day the Am'rous
Lisander,
By an impatient passion sway'd,
Surpriz'd Fair
Cloris, that lov'd
Maid,
Who cou'd defend her self no longer;
All things did with his love conspire,
The guilded
Planet of the
Day,
In his gay
Charriot, drawn by
Fire,
Was now desending to the
Sea,
And left no light to guide the World,
But what from
Cloris brighter Eyes was hurl'd
2.
In a lone
Ticket, made for love,
Silent, as yeelding
Maids consent,
She with a charming languishment,
Permits his force; yet gently strove;
Her hands, his Bosome, softly meet,
But not to put him back design'd,
Rather to draw him on inclin'd,
Whilst the lay trembling at her
Fect;
Resistance, 'tis too late to shew,
She wants the pow'r to say—Ah! what d'you do?
3.
Her bright
Eyes sweet, and yet severe,
Wher
Love, and shame, confus'dly strive,
[Page 93] Fresh vigor, to
Lisander give;
And whisp'ring softly in his
Ear,
She cry'd—cease—cease—your vain desire,
Or I'll call out what wou'd you doe?
My dearer Honor, ev'n to you,
I cannot—must not give—retire,
Or take that life, whose chiefest part,
I gave you with the Conquest of my
Heart.
4
But he, as much unus'd to fear,
As he was capable of
Love,
The blessed
Minutes to improve,
Kisses her
Lips, her
Neck, her Hair!
Each touch! her new desires Allarmes!
His burning trembling hand he prest,
Upon her melting Snowy
Breast,
While he lay panting in his Armes!
All her ungarded
Beauties lye,
The spoiles, and
Trophies, of the
Enemy,
4
And now without respect, or fear,
He seeks the
Object of his
Vows.
His love no modesty allows.
By swift degrees, advancing where.
His daring
Hand that
Altar seiz'd,
Where
Gods of
Love, do Sacrifice!
That awful
Thorne! that
Paradice!
Where Rage is tam'd, and Anger pleas'd?
That living
Fountain, from whose Trills,
The melted Soul, in liquid drops destils!
6.
Her Balmey
Lips, encountring his,
Their
Bodies, as their
Souls they joyn'd,
Where both in transports unconfin'd,
Extend themselves upon the
Moss!
Cloris, half dead, and breathless lay,
Her
Eyes appear'd like
Humid light,
Such as divides the
Day, and
Night,
Or falling
Stars, whose
Fires decay;
And now no signs of life she shows,
But what in short-breath'd sighs, returns and goes.
7.
He saw how at her length she lay,
He saw her rising
Bosome bare;
Her loose thine
Robes, through which appear,
A shape design'd, for love, and play
Abandon'd by her
Pride, and shame:
She does her softest sweets dispence,
Off ring her
Virgin, innocence,
A
Victim, to
Loves sacred flame.
Whilst th' o're ravisht
Shepherd, lyes,
Unable to perform the
Sacrifice.
8
Ready to tast a
Thousand joys,
The too transported hapless
Swayne,
Found the vast pleasure, tur'd to rain:
Pleasure! which too much love destroys!
The willing Garment by he laid,
And
Heav'n all open to his view.
[Page 95] Mad to possess, himself he threw,
On the defenceless lovely
Maid!
But oh! what enviours
Gods conspire!
To snach his pow'r, yet leave him the desire!
9.
Natures support, without whose Aid,
She can no humane being give;
It self now wants the
Art to live;
Faintness, its slacken'd
Nerves Invade,
In vain th' enraged
Youth assay'd,
To call his fleeting
Vigor back;
No motion, 'twill from motion take,
Excess of love, his love betray'd,
In vain he toyles, in vain commands.
Th'
Insensible, fell weeping in his
Hands.
10.
In this so Am'rous cruel strife,
Where
Love, ond
Fate, were too severe.
The poor
Lisander, in despair,
Renounc'd his
Reason, with his life.
Now all the brisk, and
Active fire,
That shou'd the nobler part in flame,
And left no spark for new desire;
Not all her naked
Charmes cou'd move,
Our calme that
Rage, that had debauch'd his love.
11.
Cloris, returning from the
Trance,
Which love and soft desire, had bred,
[Page 96] Her tim'rous hand, she gently laid,
Or guided by design, or chance
Upon that
Fabulous Priapus,
That
Potent God (as
Poets feign)
But never did young
Shepherdess,
(Gath'ring of
Fern, upon the
Plain)
More nimbly draw her
Fingers back,
Finding beneath the
Verdent Leaves a
Snake;
12.
Then
Cloris, her fair hand withdrew,
Finding that
God, of her defiers,
Lisa
[...]m'd of all his pow'rful
Fires;
And cold as
Flow'rs bath'd in the
Morning Dew;
Who can the
Nymphs confusion guess?
The blood forsook the kinder place,
And strew'd with blushes all her
Face,
Which both disdain, and shame express;
And from
Lisanders, Armes she fled,
Leaving him fainting, on the gloomy
Bed.
13.
Like
Lightning, through the
Grove, she hyes,
Or
Daphne, from the
Delphick God,;
No print upon the
Grassy Rcad,
She leaves, t'instruct pursuing
Eyes;
The
Wind, that wanton'd in her
Hair,
And with her ruffled Garments plaid,
Discover'd in the flying
Maid;
All that the
Gods e're made of
Fair.
So
Venus, when her
Love, was slain,
With fear, and hast, flew o're the Fatal
Plain,
14.
The
Nymphs resentments, none but I,
Can well imagine, and Condole;
But none can guess
Lisanders, Soul,
But those who sway'd his
Distiny:
His silent griefs, swell up to
Storms,
And not one
God, his fury spares,
He curst his
Berth, his
Fate, his
Stars,
But more the
Sheherdesses Charmes;
Whose soft bewitching influence,
Had damn'd him to the
Hell, of
Impotence.
On a Giniper Tree now cut down to make Busks.
VVHilst happy I triumphant stood,
The pride and glory of the
Wood,
My
Aromatick Boughs, and
Fruit,
Did with all other
Trees dispute;
Had right by
Nature, to excell,
In pleasing both the Tast, and smell.
But to the touch, I must confess,
Bore an unwilling fullenness:
My
VVelth, like bashful
Vergins, I,
Yeelding with some reluctancy;
For which my value shou'd be more,
Not giveing easily my store.
[Page 98] My
Verdent Branches, all the year,
Did an Eternal
Beauty were,
Did ever young, and gay appear,
Nor needed any
Tribute pay,
For
Bounties from the
God of
Day.
Nor do I hold Supremacy,
In all the
VVood, or'e ev're
Tree,
But ev'n those to of my own
Race,
That grew not in this happy place;
But that in which I glory most,
And do my self with reason bost,
Beneath my snade the other
Day,
Young
Philocles, and
Cloris, lay
Upon my
Root, he plac'd her
Head,
And where I grew, he made her
Bed;
There trembling
Limbs, did gently press,
The kind suporting, yeelding
Moss;
Ne're half so blest, as now to bear,
A
Swayne, so young, a
Nymph, so fair.
My grateful
Shade, I kindly lent
And ev'ry aiding
Bough I bent,
So low, as somtimes had the
Bliss,
To rob the
Shepherd of a Kiss.
Whilst he in pleasures far above!
The sense of that degree of love!
Permitted ev'ry stelth I made,
Uujealous of his
Rival shade.
I saw 'em kindle to desire!
Whilst with soft sighs, they blew the
Fire!
Saw the approaches of their joy,
He growing more fierce, and she less coy!
[Page 99] Saw how they mingled melting
Rays!
Exchanging love a Thousand ways!
Kind was the force on ev'ry side.
Her new desires, she cou'd not siide,
Nor wou'd the
Shepherd be deny'd!
Impatient, he waits no consent,
But what she gave by languishment.
The blessed
Minute he persu'd,
Whilst
Love, her fere, and shame subdu'd
And now transported in his Armes,
Yieelds to to the
Conqueror, all her
Charmes!
His panting
Brest, to hers now joyn'd,
They feast on
Raptures, unconfin'd!
Vast and luxuriant, such as prove,
The immortality of love!
For who but a
Divinity!
Cou'd mingle
Souls to that degree,
And melt 'em into
Extasie!
Where like the
Pooenix both expire,
Whilst from the
Ashes of their
Fire,
Sprung up a
New, and soft desire,
Like
Charmers, Thrice thay did invoke
The
God, and Thrice new vigor took
And had the
Nymph, been half so kind,
As was the
Shepherd, well inclin'd;
The Myst'ry had not ended thear;
But
Cloris, reassum'd her fear,
And chid the
Swayne, for having prest,
What shee (alas) cou'd not resist:
Whilst he, in whome
Loves sacred flame,
Before, and after was the same,
[Page 100] Humbly implores she wou'd forget
That fault, which he wou'd yet repeat,
From active joyes with shame they hast,
To a reflection on the past;
A Thousand times the
Covert blses,
That did secure their happyness;
Their gratitude, to ev'ry
Tree
They pay, most to happy me!
The
Shepherdess, my
Bark carrest,
Whilst he my
Root (Loves Pillow) kist,
And did with sights their
Fate deplore,
Since I must shelter 'em no more.
And if before, my joyes were such,
In having seen, and herd so much;
My griefs, must be as great, and high,
When all abandon'd I must lye,
Doom'd to a silent Destiny:
No more the Am'rous strife to hear,
The
Shepherds, Vous, the
Virgins fear;
No more a joyful looker on,
Whilst
Loves soft
Battl's lost and won.
With grief I bou'd my murm'ring
Head,
And all my
Christal Dew, I shed,
Which did in
Cloris pity move;
Cloris whose
Soul is made of love.
She cut me down, and did translate,
My being to a happier State:
No
Martyr, for
Religion dy'd,
With half that unconsid'ring pride;
My Top was, on the
Alter laid,
Where
Love, his softest Offrings paid,
[Page 101] And was as fragrant
Incence burn'd;
My
Body, into
Busks, was turn'd.
Where I still guard the sacred Store,
And of
Loves Temple, keep the
Door.
On the Death of Mr. Grnehill The Famous Painter.
VVHat doleful cryes are these that fright my sense,
Sad, as the grones of dying innocence!
The killing
Accents, now more near approach,
And the infectious sound,
Spreads, and enlarges all around,
And does all
Hearts, with grief, and wonder touch!
The famous
Grnehill's dead! ev'n he,
That cou'd to us give immortality,
Is to th' Eternal, silent
Groves, withdrawn,
Those sullen
Groves, of Everlasting Dawn;
Youthful as
Flow'rs scarce blown, whose opening
Leaves,
A wond'rous and a fragrant
Prospect gives,
Of what its Elder
Beauties wou'd display,
When it shou'd slorish up to ripening
May!
Witty! as
Poets, warm'd with
Love, and
VVine,
Yet still spar'd
Heav'n and his
Friend;
For Both to him, were sacred, and divine,
Nor could he this, no more than that offend.
And gen'rous as a
God!
Distributing his
Bounties all abroad,
And soft, and gentle, as a
Love-sick Maid.
Great
Master, of the Noble Mystery,
That ever happy knowledge did inspire;
Sacred as that of
Poetry!
And which, the wond'ring
VVorld, does equally admire!
Great
Natures works we do contemn,
When on his glorious
Births, we meditate,
The
Face, and
Eyes, more
Darts reciv'd from him,
Then all the
Charmes she can create:
The diff
[...]rence is, his
Beauties do beget,
In the Enamer'd
Soul, a vertuous heat,
Whilst
Natures grosser pieces move,
In the course
Road, of common love.
So bold, yet soft, his touches were.
So round each part, so sweet, and fair,
That as his
Pencil mov'd Men thought it prest,
The lively imitated
Breast,
Which yields like
Clouds, where little
Angels rest!
The
Limbs all easie, as his temper was,
Strong at his
Mind and
Manly too;
Large as his
Soul, his fancy was, and new;
And from himself he coppy'd ev'ry grace,
For he had all that cou'd adorn a
Face,
All that cou'd either
Sex, subdue.
Each excellence he had, that
Youth has in its pride,
And all experienc'd
Age, can teach;
[Page 103] At once the vig'rous
Fire of this,
And ev'ry
Virtue, which that can express,
In all the height that both cou'd reach!
And yet (alas) in this perfection dy'd!
Dropt like a Blossom, with a
Northern blast,
When all the scatter'd
Leaves, abroad are cast,
As quick! as If his
Fate, had been in hast!
So have I seen an unfixt
Star,
Out-shine the rest of all the num'rous Train
(As bright as that which guides the
Marriner)
Dart swiftly from its darkn'd Sphear,
And ne're shall light the
World again!
Oh why shou'd so much knowledge dye!
Or with his last kind Breath,
Why cou'd he not to some one
Friend, bequeath
The mighty
Legacy
But 'twas a knoledge giv'n to him alone,
That his Eterniz'd name might be,
Admir'd to all
Posterity,
By all to whom his grateful name was known!
Come all ye softer
Beauties, come!
Bring
Wreths of
Flow'rs, to deck his
Tomb,
Mixt with the dismal
Cypress, and the
Yew,
For he still gave your
Charmes their due;
And from the injuries of
Age, and
Time,
Scur'd the sweetness of your prime,
And best knew how t' adore that sweetness too!
Bring all your mornful
Tributes here,
And let your
Eyes, a silent sorrow wear,
Till ev'ry
Virgin, for a while become,
Sad as his
Fate, and like his
Pictures dumb.
To all curious Criticks and Admirers of Meeter.
HAve you seen the rageing Stormy
Main
Toss a
Ship up, then cast her down again?
Sometimes she seems to touch the very
Skies.
And then again upon the
Sand she lyes.
Or have you seen a
Bull, when he is jealous,
How he does tear the ground, and Rores and Bellows?
Or have you seen the pretty
Turtle Dove,
When she laments the absence of her love!
Or have you seen the
Fairyes, when they sing,
And dance with mirth together in a
Ring?
Or have you seen our
Gallants, keep a pudder,
With
Fair and
Grace, and
Grace, and
Fair Anstrudder?
Or hove you seen the
Daughter of
Apollo,
Pow'r down their rhyming
Liquors in a hollow
Cane?
In spungy
Brain, congealing into
Verse;
If you have seen all this, then kiss mine
A—se.
Satyr.
A. VVHat
Timon does old Age begin t' approach
That thus thou droop'st under a nights debauch?
Hast thou lost deep to needy
Rogues on Tick
Who ne're cou'd pay, and must be paid next
VVeek?
Tim. Neither alas, but a dull dining
Sot;
Seiz'd me ith'
Mall, who just my name had got;
He runs upon me, cries dear
Rogue I'm thine,
With me some
Wits, of thy acquaintance dine.
I tell him I'm engag'd but as a
Whore,
With mdesty enslaves her
Spark, the more.
The longer I deny'd, the more he prest,
At last I e'ne consent to be his
Guest.
He takes me in his
Coach, and as we go;
Pulls out a
Libil, of a Sheet, or two;
Insipid, as,
The praise of pious Queens,
Or
S—, unassisted former
Scenes;
Which he admir'd, and praisd at ev'ry
Line,
At last it was so sharp, it must be mine.
I vow'd I was no more a
VVit, then he,
Unpractic'd, and unblest in
Poetry:
A
Song to
Phillis, I perhaps might make,
But never Rhym'd, but for my
Pintles sake:
I envy'd no
Mans fortune, nor his fame,
Nor ever thought of a revenge so tame.
He knew my
Stile, he swore, and 'twas in vain,
Thus to deny the Issue of my
Brain.
[Page 106] Choak'd with his flatt'ry, I no answer make,
But silent leave him to his dear mistake.
Of a well meaning
Fool, I'm most afraid,
Who sillily repeats, what was well said.
But this was not the worst, when he came home,
He askt are
Sidley, Buchurst, Savil, come?
No, but there were above
Halfwit and
Huffe,
Kickum, and
Dingboy. Oh 'tis well enough,
They're all brave
Fellows cryes mine
Host, let's Dine,
I long to have my
Belly full of
VVine,
They'll write, and fight I dare assure you,
They're Men,
Tam Marte quam Mercurio.
I saw my error, but twas now too late,
No means, nor hopes, appears of a retreat.
Well we salute, and each
Man takes his Seat.
Boy (says my
Sot) is my
VVife ready yet!
A
Wife good
Gods! a
Fop and
Bullys too!
For one poor
Meale, what must I undergo?
In comes my
Lady strait, she had bin
Fair.
Fit to give love, and to prevent despair,
But
Age Beauties incureable Disease,
Had left her more desire, then pow'r to please.
As
Cocks, will strike, although their
Spurrs be gone.
She with her old bleer
Eyes to smight begun:
Though nothing else, she (in despight of time)
Preserv'd the affectation of her prime;
How ever you begun, she brought in love,
And hardly from that Subject wou'd remove.
We chanc'd to speak of the
French Kings, success;
My
Lady wondr'd much how
Heav'n cou'd bless,
But more how he to them excus'd his Crime.
She askt
Huffe, if
Loves flame he never felt?
He answer'd bluntly—do you think I'm gelt?
She at his plainness smil'd, then turn'd to me,
Love in young
Minds, proceeds ev'n
Poetry.
You to that passion can no
Stranger be,
But
VVits are giv'n to inconstancy.
She had run on I think till now, but
Meat
Came up, and suddenly she took her seat.
I thought the
Dinner wou'd make some amends,
When my good
Host crys out, y'are all my
Friends,
Our own plain Fare,
and the best Terse
the Bull
Affords, I'll give you and your
Bellies full:
As for French Kickshaws, Cellery, and Champoon
Ragous
and Fricasses, in troath we'ave none.
Here's a good
Dinner towards thought I, when strait
Up comes a piece of
Beef, full
Horsmans weight;
Hard as the
Arse of
M—, under which,
The
Coachman sweats, as wridden by a
Witch.
A Dish of
Carrets, each of 'em as long,
As
Tool, that too fair
Countess, did belong;
Which her small
Pillow, cou'd not so well hide,
But
Visiters, his flaming Head espy'd.
Pig, Goose,
and Capon,
follow'd in the Rear,
With all that
Country Bumpkins, call good Cheer:
Serv'd up with Sauces all of
Eighty, Eight,
When our tough
Youth, wrestled, and threw the Weight.
And now the
Bottle, briskly flyes about,
Instead of
Ice, wrapt in a wet
Clowt.
[Page 108] A Brimmer follows the third bit we eat,
Small Bear, becomes our drink, and Wine, our Meat
The
Table was so large, that in less space,
A Man might save, six old
Italians place:
Each Man had as much room, as
Porter B—,
Or
Harris, had, in
Cullens, Bushel C—t.
And now the
Wine began to work, mine
Host
Had been a
Collonel we must hear him boast
Not of
Towns won, but an
Estate he lost
For the
Kings Service, which indeed he spent
Whoring, and Drinking, but with good intent
He talkt much of a Plot, and
Money lent
In
Cromwells time. My
Lady she
Complain'd our love was course, our
Poetry,
Unfit for modest
Eares, small
Whores, and
Play'rs.
Were of our Hair-brain'd
Youth, the only cares;
Who were too wild for any virtuous
League,
Too rotten to consummate the Intrigue.
Falkland, she prais'd, and
Sucklings, easie Pen,
And seem'd to taste their former parts again.
Mine
Host, drinks to the best in
Christendom,
And decently my
Lady, quits the
Room.
Left to our selves, of several things we prate,
Some regulate the
Stage, and soem the
State,
Halfwit, cries up my Lord of
O—,
Ah how well
Mustapha, and
Zanger dye!
His sense so little forc'd, that by one
Line,
You may the other easily divine.
And which is worse, if any worse can be,
He never said one word of it to me.
There's fine
Poetry! you'd swear 'twere
Prose,
So little on the Sense, the Rhymes impose.
E—, writes
Airy Songs, and soft
Lampoons,
The best of any
Man; as for your
Nowns,
Grammar, and Rules of Art, he knows 'em not,
Yet writ two talking
Plays, without one
Plot.
H—, was for
S—, and
Morocco, prais'd,
Said rumbling words, like Drums, his courage rais'd.
Whose broad-built-bulks, the boyst'rous Billows, bear,
Zaphee
and Sally, Mugadore, Oran,
The fam'd Arzile, Alcazer, Tituan.
Was ever braver Language writ by
Man?
Kickum for
Crown declar'd, said in
Romance,
He had out done the very
Wits, of
France.
Witness
Pandion, and his
Charles the
Eight;
Where a young
Monarch, careless of his Fate,
Though Forreign Troops, and
Rebels, shock his State,
Complains another sight afflicts him more.
(Videl.) The
Queens Galleys rowing from the
Shore,
Fitting their Oars and Tackling to be gon
Whilst sporting Waves smil'd on the rising Sun.
Waves smiling on the
Sun! I am sure that's new,
And 't was well thought on, give the
Devil his due.
Mine
Host, who had said nothing in an hour.
Rose up, and prais'd the
Indian Emperor.
As if our old
World, modestly withdrew,
And here in private had brought forth a New.
There are two
Lines! who but he durst presume
To make the old
World, a new withdrawing Room,
Where of another
VVorld she's brought to
Bed!
What a brave
Midwife is a
Laureats head!
[Page 110] But pox of all these
Scriblers, what do'e think.
Will
Souches this year any
Champoon drink?
Will
Turene fight him? without doubt says
Huffe,
If they two meet, their meeting will be rough.
Damn me (says
Dingboy) the
French, Cowards are,
They pay, but the
English, S
[...]ots, and
Swiss make
War:
In gawdy
Troops, at a review they shine,
But dare not with the
Germans, Battel joyn;
What now appears like courage, is not so,
Tis a short pride, which from success does grow;
On their first blow, they'll shrink into those fears,
They shew'd at
Cressy, Agincourt, Poytiers;
Their loss was infamous,
Honor so stain'd,
Is by a
Nation not to be regain'd.
What they were then I know not, now th'are brave,
He that denyes it-lyes and is a
Slave,
(Says
Huffe and frown'd) says
Dingboy, that do I,
And at that word, at t'others
Head let fly
A greasie
Plate, when suddenly they all,
Together by the Eares in Parties fall.
Halfwit, with
Dingboy joynes,
Kickum with
Huffe,
Their Swords were safe, and so we let 'em cuff
Till they mine
Host, and I, had all enough.
Their rage once over, they begin to treat,
And six fresh
Bottles, must the peace compleat.
I ran down stairs, with a Vow never more
To drink Bear Glass, and hear the
Hectors roar.
A Session of the Poets.
SInce the
Sons of the
Muses, grew mum'rous, and loud,
For th'appeasing so factious, and clam'rous a Crowd;
Apollo, thought fit in so weighty a cause,
T' Establish a Government,
Leader, and
Laws.
The hopes of the
Bays, at this summoning call,
Had drawn em together, the
Devil and all;
All thronging and listning, they gap'd for the Blessing,
No
Presbyter Sermon, had more crowding, and pressing.
In the
Head of the
Gang J—D—, appear'd,
That Antient grave
Wit, so long lov'd, and fear'd,
But
Apollo, had heard a Story'ith'
Town,
Of his quitting the
Muses, to wear the black
Gown,
And so gave him leave now his
Poetrys done,
To let him turn
Priest, now
R—, is turn'd
Nun.
This Reverend
Author was no sooner set by,
But
Apollo, had got gentle
George in his Eye,
And frankly confest, of all Men that writ,
Ther's none had more sancy, sense Judgment, and
Wit.
But 'th' crying Sin, idleness, he was so harden'd,
That his long Seav'n years silence, was not to be pardon'd
Brawny
W—, was the next Man shew'd his Fa1ce,
But
Apollo, e'ne thought him too good for the Place;
[Page 112] No
Gentleman Writer, that office shou'd bear
'Twas a
Trader in Wit, the
Lawrel shou'd wear.
As none but a
Citt, e're makes a
Lord Major.
Next into the Crowd,
Tom S—, does wallow,
And Swears by his
Guts, his
Paunch, and his
Tallow,
'Tis he that alone best pleases the Age,
Himself, and his
Wife have supported the
Stage.
Apollo, well pleas'd with so bonny a
Lad,
T' oblige him, he told him she shou'd be huge glad,
Had he half so much
VVit, as he fancy'd he had.
How ever to please so
Jovial a
Wit,
And to keep him in humour,
Apollo, thought fit,
To bid him drink on, and keep his Old Trick,
Of railing at
Poets, and shewing his
Prick.
N—L—, step in next, in hopes of a
Prize,
Apollo, remember'd he had hit once in Thrice;
By the Rubyes in's Face, he cou'd not deny,
But he had as much Wit, as
Wine cou'd supply;
Confest that indeed he had a
Musical Note,
But sometimes strain'd so hard, that he rattled ith' Throat;
Yet owning he had
Sense, t'encourage him for't,
He made him his
Ovid in
Augustus's Court.
Poet S—, his Tryal, was the next came about,
He brought him an
Ibrahim, with the Preface torn out;
And humbly desir'd, he might give no offence;
God damne, cryes
S.— he cannot write sense,
And Ballocks cru'd
Newport, I hate that dull
Rogue;
Apollo, consid'ring he was not in vogue,
Wou'd not trust his dear
Bays, with so modest a
Fool,
And bid the great
Boy, shou'd be sent back to
School,
Tom O—, came next
Tom S—, dear
Zany;
And swears for
Heroicks, he writes best of any;
Don C—, his Pockets so amply had fin'd,
That his
Mange was quite cur d, and his
Lice were all kill'd.
But
Apollo, had seen his Face on the
Stage,
And prudently did not think fit to engage,
The scum of a
Play-house, for the Prop of an
Age.
In the numerous Herd, that encompast him round
Little starcht
Jonny C— at his Elbow he found,
His
Crevat-string, new Iron'd, he gently did stretch,
His Lilly white hand out, the
Lawrel to reach;
Alledging that he had most right to the
Bays,
For writing
Romances, and shiting of
Plays.
Apollo, rose up, and gravely confest,
Of all
Men that writ, his
Tallent was best:
For since pain, and dishonor,
Mans life only damn,
The greatest felicity,
Mankind can claim,
Is to want sense of smart, & be past sense of shame:
And to perfect his
Bliss, in
Poetical Rapture,
He bid him be dull to the end of the
Chapter.
The
Poetress Afra, next shew'd her sweet face,
And swore by her
Poetry, and her black
Ace,
The
Lawrel, by a double right was her own,
For the
Plays she had writ, and the
Conquests she had won:
Apollo, acknowledg'd 'twas hard to deny her,
Yet to deal franckly, and ingeniously be her,
He told her were
Conquests, and
Charms her pretence,
She ought to have pleaded a
Dozen years since.
[Page 114]
Anababaluthu put in for a share,
And little
Tom Essences Author, was there.
Nor cou'd
D—, forbear for the
Lawrel to stickle,
Protesting he had had the
Honor to tickle,
The Ears of the
Town, with his dear
Madam Fickle.
With other pretenders, whose namesl'd rehearse,
But that they're too long to stand in my
Verse.
Apollo, quite cir'd with their tedious
Harrangue,
Finds at last
Tom B—, face in the gang,
And since
Poets, with the kind
Play'rs, may hang,
By his own light, he solemnly swore,
That in search of a
Laureat, he'd look out no more.
A general murmur run quite through the
Hall,
To think that the
Bays, to an
Actor shou'd fall,
But
Apollo, to quiet, and pacifie all;
E'ne told 'em to put his desert to the Test,
That he had made
Plays, as well as the best;
And was the greatest wonder, the
Age ever bore,
For of all the
Play-Scriblers, that e're writ before,
His wit, had most worth, and most modesty in't,
For he had writ
Plays, yet ne're came in print.
Satyr.
Aude aliquid brevibus
Gyaris aut carcere dignum
Sivis esse aliquis—indem sat.
Suppos'd to be spoken by a Court Hector.
Pindarique,
Now curses on ye all, ye vertuous
Fools.
Who think to fetter free born
Souls,
And tye 'em up to dull
Morality, and
Rules,
The
Stagyrite, be damn'd, and all the Crew,
Of learned
Idiots, who his steps persue;
And those more silly
Proselites, whom his fond Precepts drew!
Oh had his
Ethicks, been with their wild
Author drown'd
Or a like fate, with those lost Writings found,
Which that grand
Plagiary, doom'd to
Fire,
And made by unjust
Flames expire,
They ne're had then seduc'd
Mortality,
Ne're lasted to debauch the
World, with their lewd Pedantry.
But damn'd and more (if
Hell can do`t) be that
Thrice cursed name,
Who e`re the rudiments of Law design`d;
Who e`re did the First
Model of
Religion, frame,
By nought before, but their own pow'r, or will confin'd:
Now quite abridg'd of all their Primitive liberty.
And
Slaves, to each capricious
Monarchs, Tyranny.
More happy
Bruits! who the great Rule of sense observe,
And nere from their First Charter swerve.
Happy whose lives are meerly to enjoy,
And feel no stings of Sin, which may their Bliss annoy;
Still unconcern'd, at
Epithets of ill, or good,
Distinctions unadult'rate
Nature, never understood.
2
Hence! hated
Vertue, from our goodly
Isle!
No more our joys beguile!
No more, with thy loath'd presence plague our happy State;
Thou
Enemy to all, that's brisk, or gay, or brave, or great!
Begon! with all thy pious meager
Train,
To some unfruitful, unfrequented
Land,
And there an
Empire gain,
And there extend thy rigor command:
There where illib'ral Natures nigradice,
Has set a
Tax on
Vice!
Where the lean barren
Region, does enhance,
The worth of dear intemperance!
And for each pleasurable Sin, exacts Excise!
We (thanks to
Heav'n) more cheaply can offend,
[Page 117] And want to tempting
Luxuries.
No good convenient Sinning opportunities,
Which
Natures bounty cou'd bestow, or
Heav'ns kindness lend!
Go follow that nice
Goddess, to the
Skies!
Who heretofore disgusted at encreasing Vice,
Dislik'd the
World, and thought it to prophane,
And timely hence retir'd, and kindly ne're returnd, again,
Hence! to those Airy Mansions rove,
Converse with
Saints, and holy
Folks above!
Those may thy presence woe,
Whose lazy ease, offords 'em nothing else to do.
Where haughty scornful I,
And my great
Friends, will ne're vouch safe thee Company.
Thou art now a hard unpracticable good,
Too difficult for
Flesh, and
Blood,
Where all Soul like them, perhaps I'd learn to practice thee.
3
Vertue! thou solemn grave impertinence,
Abhorr'd by all the
Men of
Wit, and
Sence!
Thou dam'd
Fatigue! that clogg'st lifes Journey here,
Tho thou no weight of
Wealth, or profit bear!
Thou puling, fond Green-sicknes of the
Minds,
That maks up prove to our own selves unkind;
Whereby we
Coales, and
Dirt, for
Diet, choose,
And pleasures better
Food refuse.
Till they too late perceive themselves undone,
Chows'd by a
Dowry, in Reversion!
The greatest
Votary, thou e're coud'st boast,
Pitty so brave a Soul, was in thy service lost,
What wonders he in wickedness had done!
Whom thy weak pow'r, cou'd so inspire alone!
Though long with fond Amors he courted thee,
Yet dying did recant his vain Idolatry;
At length (tho late) he did repent with shame:
Forc'd to confess thee nothing but an empty name.
So was that
Letcher, gull'd, whose haugty love,
Design'd a
Rape, on the
Queen Regent of the
Gods above.
When he a
Goddess, thought he had in chase,
He found a gawdy
Vapor in the place,
And with thin Aire, beguild his starv'd embrace;
Idly he spent his
Vigor! spent his blood,
And ty d himself, t'oblige an unperforming
Cloud.
4
If Humane kind to thee e're Worship paid,
Then were by ignorance misled;
That only them devout, and thee a
Goddess made:
Known hap'ly in the
Worlds rude, untaught, Infancy,
Before it had out-grown its Childish innocence;
Before it had arriv'd at sense,
Or reach'd the
Manhood, and discretion of Debauchery:
Known in those Antient Godly duller times,
When crafty
Pagans, had engros'd all Crimes:
[Page 119] When
Christian Fools, were obstinately good,
Nor yet their Gospel freedom understood.
Tame easie
Fops, who cou'd so prodigally bleed,
To be thought
Saints, and dye a Kalender with red
No prudent
Heathea, e're seduc'd cou'd be,
To suffer Martyrdom for thee,
Only that Arrant
Asse, whom the false
Oracle cal'ld wise:
(No wonder if the
Devil utter'd
Lyes)
That sniv'ling
Puritan, who spight of all the Mode.
Wou'd be unfashionably good;
And exercis'd his whining gifts, to rail at Vice,
Him all the
Wits, of
Athens damn'd.
And justly with
Lampoones, defam'd.
But when the mad
Fanatick, cou'd not filenc'd be,
From broaching dangerous Divinity,
The wise
Republick, made him for prevension dye,
And kindly sent him to the
Gods, and better Company.
5
Let fumbling Age, be grave, and wise,
And
Virtues poor contemn'd
Idea prize,
Who never knew, now are past the sweets of Vice;
Whilst we whose Active Pulses beat,
With lusty youth and vig'rous heat,
Can all their
Birds, and
Moralls too despise?
Whilst my plump
Veines, are fill'd with lust and
Blood,
Let not one thought of her intrude,
Or dare approach my
Breast;
But know 'tis all possest,
[Page 120] By a more welcome
Guest;
And know, I have not yet the leisure to be good.
If ever unkind
Desteny,
Shall force long life on me;
If e're I must the curse of
Dotage bear,
Perhaps I'll dedicate those
Dregs of time, to her,
And come with
Crutches, her most humble
Votary.
When Sprightly
Vice, retreats from hence,
And quits the ruines of decayed sense,
She'll serve to Usher in a fair pretence,
And varnish with her Name, a well dissembled Impotence!
When Ptisick, Rheums, Catarrhs, and Palsies, seize,
And all the
Bill of
Maladies,
Which
Hav'n to punish over-living
Mortals sends;
Then let her enter, with th' num'rous infirmitis,
Her self the greatest plague, which wrinckles, and gray Hairs, attends.
6
Tell me ye Venerable
Sots who court her most,
What small advantage can she boast,
Which her great
Rival, has not in a greater store engross'd?
Her quiet, calm, and peace of
Mind,
In
Wine, and Company, we better find,
Find it with pleasure, to combind!
In mighty Wine, where we our Senses steep:
And lull our cares, and
Consciences asleep!
But why do I, that wild
Chimera name?
Conscience! that giddy Airy
Dream;
[Page 121] Which does from
Brain-sick-heads, or ill digesting
Stomachs, steam.
Conscience! the vain fantastick fear,
Of punishments, we know not when, or where:
Project of crafty
States-men, to support weak Law,
Whereby they slavish Spirits awe,
And dastard Souls, to forc'd obedience draw.
Grand Wheadle! which our
Gownd-Impostors use,
The poor unthinking
Rabble, to abuse:
Scare-Crew, to fright from the forbidden fruit of
Vice,
Their own beloved
Paradice!
Let those vile
Canters, wickedness decry,
Whose Mercenary Tongues take pay
For what they say;
And yet commend in practice, what their words deny.
While we discerning Heads, who farther pry,
Their Holy
Cheats desie,
And scorn their frauds, and scorn their sanctify'd
Cajollery.
None but dull unbred
Fools, discredit Vice,
VVho act their wickedness, with an ill grace;
Such their profession scandalize,
And justly forfeir all their praise,
All that esteem, that credit, and applause.
VVhich we by our wise
Manage, from a Sin can raise.
A true, and brave transgressor ought,
To Sin with the same height of Spirit,
Caesar fought.
Mean-soul'd, Offenders, now no Honor gain,
Only Debauchees of the Noble strain;
[Page 122] Vice, well improv'd, yeelds Bliss, and Fame beside,
And some for Sinning have been
Deify'd!
Thus the lewd
Gods, of old, did move,
By these brave
Methods, to the Seats above!
Ev'n
Jove himself, the Sov'raign
Deity,
Father, and
King, of all th'immortal Progeny,
Ascended to that high degree,
By Crimes above the reach of weak
Mortality:
He
Heav'n, one large
Seraglio, made,
Each
Goddess, turn'd a glorious
Punk, 'oth Trade,
And all that sacred place,
Was fill'd with
Bastard Gods, of his own Race!
Almighty
Letch'ry got his first repute,
And everlasting Whoring, was his chiefest Attribute.
8
How gallant was that
Wretch, whose happy guilt,
A fame upon the ruines of a
Temple built?
Let
Fools, (saith he) impiety alledge,
And urge the no great fault of
Sacriledge?
I'll set the sacred
Pile, on flame,
And in its
Ashes, write my lasting name!
My Name! which thus shall be,
Deathless, as its own
Deity!
Thus the vain glorious
Carian, I'll out do,
And
Egypts, proudest
Monarchs too!
Those lavish
Prodigals, who idely did consume,
Their lives, and Treasures to erect a
Tomb,
And only great, by being buried wou'd become.
[Page 123] At cheaper rates than they, I'll buy renown,
And my lowd Fame, shall all their silent glories drown!
So spake the daring
Hector, so did Prophecy,
And so it prov'd—in vain did envious Fate,
By fruitless
Methods try:
To raise his well built
Same, and
Memory
Amongst
Posterity:
The
Beautifeu, can now immortal write,
While the inglorious
Founder, is forgotten quite.
9
Yet greater was that mighty
Emperor,
(A greater Crime, befitted his high pow'r)
Who sacrific'd a
City, to a jeast,
And shew'd he knew the grand Intrigues of humor best!
He made all
Rome, a
Bonfire to his Fame!
And sung, and plaid, and danc'd amidst the
Flame!
Bravely begun! yet pitty there he staid,
One step to glory more he shou'd have made!
He shou'd have heav'd the noble
Frollick higher!
And made the
People, on that
Fun'ral Pile expire!
Or providently with their
Blood put out the
Fire!
Had this been done,
The utmost pitch of glory he had won!
No greater
Monument cou'd be,
To consecrate him to
Eternity!
Nor shou'd there need another
Herald, of his praise but me!
10
And thou yet greater
Faux, the glory of our Isle
Whom baffled
Hell, esteems its chiefest
Foyle;
(Twere injury, shou'd I omit thy name)
Whose Action, merits all the breath of
Fame!
Methinks I see the trembling Shades below,
Around in humble rev'rence how,
Doubtful they seem, whether to pay their
Loyalty,
To their dread
Monarch, or to them!
No wonder he grown jealous, of thy fear'd success,
Envy'd
Mankind. the honor of thy wickedness,
And spoyl'd that brave attempt, which must have made his grandeur
less.
How e're regret not mighty
Ghost.
Thy
Plot by treach'rous Fortune crost.
Nor think thy well deserved glory lost!
Thou the full praise of
Villany, shalt ever share,
And all will judge thy Act compleat enough, when thou coudst dare.
So thy great
Master, fear'd; whose high disdain.
Contemn'd that
Heav'n, where he cou'd not reign.
When he with bold ambition strove,
T'usurp the
Throne above,
And led against the
Deity, an Armed Train.
Though from his vast designs he fell,
O're pow'rd by's
Almighty Foe,
Yet gain'd he
Vict'ry in his overthrow;
He gaind sufficient
Triumph, that he durst rebel,
And 'twas some pleasure, to be thought the great'st in
Hell!
11
Tell me ye great
Triumvirate, what shall I do,
To be Illustrious as you?
Let your example move me with a gen'rous Fire!
Let'em into my daring thoughts inspire!
Some what compleatly wicked, some vast
Gyant
Crime,
Unthought, unknown, unpattern'd, by all past and present time!
'Tis done, 'tis done, me thinks I feel the pow'rful Charmes!
And a new heat of Sin, my Spirits warms!
I travel with a glorious Mischief, for whose
Birth
My Souls too narrow, and weak Fate too feeble, yet to bring it forth!
Let the unpitty'd
Vulgar, tamely go,
And stock for company, the wide
Plantations below
Such their Vile Souls, for viler
Barter sell,
Scarce worth the damning, or their room in
Hell
We are its
Grandees, and expect as high perferment there,
For our good service, as on
Earth we share.
In them, sin is but a meer privative of good,
The frailty aud defect, of
Flesh, and
Blood;
In us 'tis a perfection, who profess
A study'd, and Elaborate wickedness:
Wee're the great
Royal Society of Vice.
Whose Talents, are to make discoveries,
And advance Sin, like other
Arts and
Sciences.
'Tis I, the bold
Columbus, only I,
[Page 126] Who must new
Worlds, in Vice descry,
And fix the
Pillars, of unpassable Iniquity.
12.
How sneaking was the first
Debauch that sinn'd,
Who for so small a sin, sold
Human kind!
How undeserving that high place,
To be thought
Parent, of our sin, and Race;
Who by low guilt, our
Nature doubly did debase.
Unworthy was he to be thought,
Father, of the great
first-born Cain, which he begot.
The Noble
Cain! whose bold, and gallant Act,
Proclaim'd him of more high
Extract!
Unworthy me,
And all the braver part of his
Posterity;
Had the just
Fates design'd me in his stead,
I'd done some great, and unexampled Deed!
A Deed! which shou'd decry,
The
Stoicks dull Equality,
And shew that Sin admits transcendency!
A
Deed! wherein the
Tempter shou'd not share,
Above what
Heav'n, cou'd punish, and above what he cou'd dare!
For greater Crimes than his, I wou'd have fell,
And acted some what, which might merit more than
Hell.
An Apology to the fore-going Satyr by way of Epilogue.
MY part is done, and you'll I hope excuse,
The extravagance, of a repenting
Muse;
Pardon what e're she has too boldly said,
She only acted here in
Masquerade;
And the slight
Arguments, she did produce,
Were not to flatter Vice, but to traduce:
So we
Buffoones, in
Princely dress expose,
Not to be gay, but more ridiculous,
When she a
Hector, for her
Subject had,
She thought she must be
Tarmagant, and mad;
That made her speak like a lewd
Punck, 'oth
Town,
Who by converse with
Bullys, wicked grown,
Has learn'd the
Mode, to cry all Virtue down:
But now the
Vizor's off, she changes Scene,
And turns a modest, civil
Girl, again.
Our
Poet, has a diff'rent taste of Wit,
Nor will to th' common Vogue, himself submit.
Let some admire the
Fops, whose Talents lye,
Inventing dull insipid
Blasphemy;
He swears he cannot with those termes dispense,
Nor will be damn'd, for the repute of sense.
Wits name, was never to profaness due,
For then you see, he cou'd be witty too:
He cou'd
Lampoon the
State, and
Libel Kings,
Put that he's
Loyal, and knows better things,
Than
Fame, whose guilty
Birth from
Treason springs.
[Page 128] He likes not wit, which can no
Licence claim,
To which the
Author, dares not set his Name:
Wit, shou'd be open, court each
Readers Eye,
Not lurk in sly, unprinted privacy.
But Criminal
Writers, like dull
Birds of Night,
For weakness, or for shame, avoid the light:
May such a
Jury, for the
Audience have,
And from the
Bench, not
Pit, their doom receive:
May they the
Tow'r, for their due merits share,
And a Just Wreath of
Hemp, not
Lawrel wear.
He cou'd be
Bawdy too, and nick the times,
In what they dearly love, damn'd
Piacket Rhymes
Such as our
Nobles write—
Whose nauseous
Poetry, can reach no higher,
Than what the
Cod-peice, or its
God inspire:
So lewd they spend at Quill, you'd justly think,
They wrote with something nastier than Ink.
But he still thought that little wit, or none,
Which a just modesty, must never own,
And a meer
Reader, with a blush attone.
If Ribauldry, deserve the praise of wit,
He must resign to each Illit'rare
Cit,
And
Prentices, and
Car-men; challenge it:
Ev'n they too, can be smart, and witty there,
For all
Men, on that Subject,
Poets are.
Henceforth he says, if ever more he find,
Himself to the base itch of Verse, inclin'd,
If e're he's given up so far to write,
He never means to make his end delight;
Shou'd he do so, he must despair success,
For he's not now debauch'd enough to please,
And must be damn'd for want of wickedness.
[Page 129] He'll therefore use his gift another way,
And next the ugliness of Vice display:
Though against
Vertue once he drew his Pen,
He'll ne're for ought, but her defence agen.
Had he a
Genius, and
Poetick Rage,
Great as the
Vices, of this guilty Age;
Were he all
Gaule, and arm'd with store of spight,
'Twere worth his pains to undertake to write:
To noble
Satyr, he'd direct his aim,
And by't
Mankind, and
Poetry, reclaim:
He'd shoot his Quils, just like a
Procupine,
At
Vice, and made 'em stab in every
Line;
The
World, shou'd learn to blush—
And dread the vengeance of his angry Wit,
Which more than their own
Conscience shou'd fright;
And all shou'd think him
Heav'ns, just plague design'd,
To visit for the Sins of lewd
Mankind.
Upon the Author of a Play call'd Sodom.
TEll me abandon'd
Miscreant, prithee tell,
What damned Pow'r invok'd and sent from
Hell;
(If
Hell, were bad enough) did thee inspire,
To write, what
Fiends asham'd would blushing hear?
[Page 130] Hast thou of late embrac'd som
Succubus?
And us'd the lewd
Familiar, for a
Muse?
Or didst thy Soul, by Inch'oth'
Candle sell,
To gain the glorious Name of
Pimp, to
Hell?
If so; go, and its vow'd
Allegiance swear,
Without Press-Money, be its
Voluntiere:
May he who envies thee, deserve thy fate,
Deserve both
Heav'ns, and
Mankinds, scorn, and hate.
Disgrace to
Libels! Foyle to very shame,
Whom 'tis a scandal to vouchsafe to damn.
What foul discriptions foul enough for thee,
Sunk quite below the reach of infamy?
Thou covet'st to be lewd, but want'st the might,
And art all over
Devil, but in Wit.
Weak feeble
Strainer, at meer ribaldry,
Whose
Muse, is impotent to that degree,
'Thad need like Age, be whipt to
Lechery.
Vile
Sot! who clapt with
Poetry art sick,
And void'st Corruption, like a
Shanker'd Prick.
Like
Vlcers, thy impostum'd Addle Brains,
Drop out in
Matter, which thy Paper stains:
Whence nauseous
Rhymes, by filthy
Births proceed,
As
Maggots, in some
T-rd, ingendring breed.
Thy
Muse has got the
Flow'rs, and they ascend,
As in some
Green-sick Girl, at upper end.
Sure
Nature made, or meant at least t'have don't,
Thy Tongue a
Clytoris, thy Mouth a
C—t:
How well a
Dildoe, wou'd that place become,
To gag it up, and make't for ever dumb?
At least it shou'd be syring'd—
[Page 131] Or wear some stinking
Merkin, for a Beard,
That all from its base converse, might be scar'd.
As they a
Door shut up, and mark'd beware,
That tells infection, and the
Plague is there.
Thou
Morefields Author, sit for
Bawds to quote,
(If
Bawds themselves, with Honor safe may do't)
When
Suburb Prentice, comes to hire delight,
And wants incentives to dull Appetite,
Their
Punk, perhaps, may they brave works rehearse,
Frigging the senseless thing, with Hand, and Verse.
Which after shall (preferr'd to
Dressing Box)
Hold
Turpentine, and
Medicines for the
Pox.
Or (If I may ordain a
Fate more fit)
For such foul, nasty,
Excrements of
Wit,
May they condem'd to th'publick
Jakes, be lent,
For me I'd fear the
Piles, in vengeance sent
Shou'd I with them prophane my
Fundament)
Therefore bugger wiping
Porters, when they shite,
And so thy
Book it self, turn
Sodomite.
A Call to the Guard by a Drum.
RAt too, rat too, rat too, rat tat too, rat tat too.
With your Noses all scabb'd, and your Eyes black and blew.
All ye hungry poor
Sinners, that
Foot Soldiers are,
[Page 132] Though with very small Coyne yet with very much cure,
From your
Quarters in
Garrets, make hast to repare,
To the Guard to the Guard.
From your sorry Straw-beds, & your bonny whith Fleas,
From your Dreames of small drink, and your very small ease,
From your plenty of stinck, and no plenty of room,
From your
Walls daub'd with Phlegm sticking on 'em like Gum.
And Cieling hung with cobwebs, to stanch a cut Thumb,
To the Guard, &c.
From your crackt Earthen Piss-pots, where no Piss can stay,
From Roofs bewrit with snuffs in letters the wrong way,
From one old broken Stool, with one unbroken
Leg,
One
Box with ne're a
Lid, to keep ne're a
Rag,
And Windows that of Storms more than your selves can brag,
To the Guard, &c.
With rusty
Pike, and
Gun, and the other rusty
Tool,
With heads extreamly hot, and with Hearts wonderous cool;
With Stomachs meaning none
(but
Cooks and
Sutlers) hurt;
With two old totter'd Shoes, that disgrace the Town dirt
With Forty shreds of Breeches, & not one shred of Shirt.
To the Guard, &c.
See they come, see they come, see they come, see they come
With Allarmes in their Pates, to the call of a
Drum;
Some lodging with Bawds (whom the modest call Bitches)
With their Bones dry'd to Kexes, and Legs shrunk to
Switches;
[Page 133] With the Plague in the Purse, & the Pox, in the Breeches.
To the Guard, &c.
Some from snoriug, and farting, and spewing on Benches,
Some from damn'd fulsome Ale, and more damn'd fulsome
Wenches;
Some from Put, and Size Ace, and Old Sim, this way stalk,
Each Mans reeling's his Gate, and his Hyccop, his talk;
With two new Cheeks of red, from ten old Rows of Chalk,
To the Guard, &c.
Here come others from scuffling, & damning mine Host,
With their Tongues at last tam'd, but with Faces that boast,
Of some Scars, by the Jordan, or War-like Quart Port,
For their building of Sconces, and Volleys of Shot,
Which they charg'd to the Mouth, but discharg'd ne're a Groat.
To the Guard, &c.
They for Valor in black too! the
Chaplain does come!
From his Preaching o're Pots, now to pray o're a Drum.
All ye Whoreing, and Swearing, old Red Coats draw near,
Like to
Saints, in red Letters, listen, and give ear,
And be Godly a while ho, and then as you were.
To the Guard, &c.
After some canting Terms, to your Arms and the like,
Such as poysing your Muskits, or Porting your Pike;
To the Right, to the Left, or else Face about,
After ratling your Sticks, and your shaking a Clout,
Hast your Infantry Troops, that mount the Guard on Foot.
To the Guard, &c.
Captain
Hector, first marches, but not he of
Troy,
But a Trifle made up of a
Man, and a
Boy.
[Page 134] See Man scant of Arms, in a Scraf does abound,
Which presages some swagg'ring, but no blood nor wound,
Like a Rain-bow, that shews the World shant be drown'd,
To the Guard, &c.
As the
Tinker, wears Rags, whilst the
Dog bears the Budget,
So the Man stalks with staff, whilst the Foot-boy does trudge it,
With the Tool he shou'd work with (that's Half-pike you'll say)
But what
Captain's so strong his own Arms to convey,
When he marches o're loaden with Ten other Mens pay.
To the Guard, &c.
In his march (if you mark) he's attended at least,
With stinks Sixteen deep, and about five a Breast
Made of Ale, and Mundung as, snuff, Rags, and Brown Crust for,
While he wants Twenty
Taylors, to make up the Cluster,
Which declares that his journey's not new to the Muster,
But to the Guard, &c.
Some with Musket, and Belly, uncharg'd march away,
With Pipes, black as their Mouths are, and short as their pay,
Whilst their Coats made of holes, shew like Bone-lace about 'em,
And their Bandileers hang like to Bobbins without 'em,
And whilst
Horsmen, do cloath 'em, those
Foot-scrubs do clout 'em.
For the Guard, &c.
Some with that ty'd one one side, and Wit ty'd on neither,
Wear gray Coats, and gray Cattle, see their
Wenches run hither,
[Page 135] For to peep through Red Lettice, and dark Celler doors,
To behold'm wear Pikes rusty, just like their
Whores,
As slender as their Meales, and as long as their Scores.
To the Guard, &c.
Some with Tweedle, Weedle, Weede (whilst we beat dub a dub)
Keep the base Scotish noise, and as base Scotish scrub;
Then with the Body contracted, a Rag, open spread,
Comes a thing, with Red Colors and Nose full as Red,
Like an Ensign, to the King, and to the Kings Head.
Towards the Guard, &c.
Two Commanders, come last, the Lievtenant perhaps,
Full of Low Country, Story, and Low Country Claps,
To be next him the other takes care not to fail,
(Powder Monkey by name) that vents stink by whole sale;
For where shou'd the Fart be, but just with the Tail.
Of the Guard, &c.
And now hey for the
King, Boyes, & hey for the
Court,
Which is guarded by these, as the
Tow'r is by Dirt;
These
Whitehall must admit, aud such other unhouse ye
Each day lets in the drunk, whilst it lets out the drowsey
And no place in the World, shifts so oft to be Lowsey.
Thank the Guard, &c.
Some to Scotland-yard sneak, and the Sutlers Wise kisses,
But dispairing of drink, till some Country man pisses,
And pays too (for no place in the Court must be given.)
To the Can Office then, all a
Foot Soldiers Heav'n,
Where he finds a foul
Fox, soon, and cures Sir
Stephen.
On the Guard, &c.
Some at Shite-house publick (where a Rag always goes)
At once emty their Guts, and diminish their Cloths
[Page 136] Though their Mouths are poor Pimps (Whore and Bacon being all
Their chief Food (yet their Bums we true
Courtiers, may call,
For what they eat in the Suburbs, they shite at
Whitehall.
For the Guard, &c.
Such a like pack of Cards, to the Park, making entry,
Here, and there, deal an Ace, which the
Jews call a Centry,
Which in bad Houses of Boards, stand to tell what a Clock 'tis,
Where they keep up tame
Red Coats, as men keep up tame
Foxes,
Or Apothecaries lay up their Dogs T-ds, in Boxes.
Oh the Guard, &c.
Some of these are planted (though it has been their lucks
Of't to steal Country Geese) now to watch the Ks. Ducks;
VVhile some others are set, in the side that has VVood in,
To stand Pimps to black Masques, that are of thither footing,
Just as Huswives, set
Cuckolds, to tend their black Pudding.
Oh the Guard, &c.
VVhilst another true
Trojan, to some passage runs,
As to keep in the Debtor, so to kep out the Duns;
Or a Prentice, or his Mistris; with Oaths to confound,
Till he hies him from the
Park, as from forbidden ground,
Cause his credit is whole, and his
Wench may be sound.
And quits the Guard, &c.
Now it's Night, and the Patrole in Ale-house droun'd,
For nought else, but the Pot, and their Brains walk the round;
[Page 137] VVhilst like
Hell, the Commanders, Guard Chambers, does (shew,
There's such damning their selves, and all else of the Crew;
For though these cheat their
Men, they give the
Devil, his due.
On the Guard, &c.
VVhilst a Main, after main, at old Hazard they throw,
And their Quarrels grow high, as their Mony grows low;
Strait thy threaten hard (using bad Faces for frowns)
To revenge on the Flesh, the default of the Bones,
But the blood's in their Hose, and in Oaths all their VVounds.
Like the Guard, &c.
In the Morning they fight, just as much as they pray,
For some one to the
King, does the tidings convey
For preventiug of
Murder; Oh 'tis a wise way!
Though not one of 'em knows (as a Thousand dare say)
VVhat belongs to a dead Man, unless in his pay.
For the Guard, &c.
VVith their skins, they march home, no more hurt than their Drums,
But for scratching of Faces, or biting of Thumbs;
And now hey for fat
Alewives, and
Tradsmen, grow leane,
For the
Captain, grown
Bankrupt, recruits him agen,
VVith sending out Tickets, and turning out Men.
From the Guard, &c.
Strait the poor
Rogue's Cashier'd, with a Care, and a curse,
Fall from wounding no Men, now to cut ev'ry Purse
[Page 138] And what then? Man's a
Worm; these we Glow-worms may name.
For as they're dark of Body, have Tails all a flame,
So tho these liv'd in Oaths, yet they dye with a
Psalm.
Farewel Guard, &c.
Ephelia to Bajazet.
HOw far are they deceiv'd who hope in vain,
A lasting
Lease of joys from
Love t'obtain?
All the dear sweets, or promise or expect,
After enjoyment, turns we cold neglect.
Cou'd love, a constant happiness have known,
The mighty wonder, had in me been shown,
Our Passions are so favored by
Fate,
As if she meant 'em an Eternal Date;
So kind he look'd, such tender words he spoke,
'Twas past belief such Vows shou'd e're be broke.
Fixt on my
Eyes, how often wou'd he say,
He cou'd with pleasure gaze an Age away!
When thoughts too great for words had made him mute,
In kisses, he wou'd till my hand his Suit.
So great his passions was, so far above,
The common
Gallantryes, that pass for love,
At worst I thought if he unkind shou'd prove,
His ebbing passion, wou'd be kinder far,
Than the First transports of all others are.
[Page 139] Nor was my love, or fondness less than his,
In him I center'd all my hopes of Bliss!
For him my duty to my
Friends forgot,
For him I lost, alas! what lost I not?
Fame, all the valuable things of life,
To meet his love, by a less name then
VVife
How happy was I then, how dearly blest,
When this great Man lay panting on my Breast,
Looking such things, as ne're can be exprest!
Thousand fresh looks he gave me ev'ry hour,
Whilst greedily I did his looks devour!
Till quite o'recome with Charmes, I trembling lay,
At ev'ry look he gave, melted away!
I was so highly happy in his love,
Methoughts I pitti'd them that dwelt above!
Think then thou greatest, lovelyest, falsest Man,
How you have vow'd, how I have lov'd, and then,
My faithless dear, be cruel if you can!
How I have lov'd, I cannot, need not tell,
No ev'ry act, has shown, I lov'd to well.
Since first I saw you, I ne're had a thought,
Was not entirely yours, to you I brought,
My
Virgin, Innocence, and freely made,
My love, an Off'ing, to your noble
Bed:
Since when, y'ave been the
Star, by which I steer'd
And nothing else but you, I lov'd, or fear'd.
Your smiles, I only live by, and I must.
When e're you frown, be shatter'd into Dust.
Oh! can the coldness that you shew me now,
Suit with the gen'rous heart you once did shew?
[Page 140] I cannot live on pitty, or respect,
A thought so mean, wou'd my whole love infect;
Less than your love, I scorn Sir to expect.
Let me not live in dull indiff'rency,
But give me rage enough to make me dye!
For if from you, I needs must meet my Fate,
Before your pitty, I wou'd choose your hate.
A very Heroical Epistle in Answer to Ephelia.
Madam,
IF your deceiv'd, it is not by my Cheat,
For all disguises, are below the great.
What
Man, or
VVoman, upon
Earth can say,
I ever us'd 'em well above a Day?
How is it then, that I inconstant am?
He changes not, who always is the same.
In my dear self, I center ev'ry thing,
My
Servants, Friends, My
Mrs. and my
King,
Nay Heav'n, and
Earth, to that one poynt I bring.
We'll manner'd, honest, generous, and stout,
Names by dull
Fools, to plague Mankind found out;
Shou'd I regard, I must my self constrain,
And 'tis my
Maxim, to avoid all pain.
You fondly look for what none e're cou'd find,
Deceive your self, and then call me unkind,
[Page 141] And by false Reasons, wou'd my falshood prove,
For 'tis as natural to change, as love:
You may as justly at the
Sun, repine,
Because alike it does not always shine,
No glorious thing, was ever made to stay,
My blazing
Star, but visits and away.
As fatal to it shines, as those 'ith'
Skyes,
'Tis never seen, but some great
Lady dyes.
The boasted favor, you so precious hold,
To me's no more than changing of my Gold
What e're you gave, I paid you back in Bliss,
Then wher's the Obligation pray of this?
If heretofore you found grace in my
Eyes,
Be thankful for it, and let that suffice,
But
VVoman, Beggar-like, still haunt the Door,
Where they've receiv'd a
Charity before.
Oh happy
Sultan! whom we barb'rous call,
How much refin'd art thou above us all:
Who envys not the joys of thy
Serail?
Thee like some
God! the trembling Crowd adore,
Each
Man's thy
Slave, and
VVoman kind, thy
VVhore.
Methinks I see thee underneath the Shade,
Of Golden Ganopy, supinely laid,
Thy crowding
Slaves, all silent as the Night,
But at thy nod, all active, as the light!
Secure in solid Sloth, thou there dost reign,
And feel'st the joys of Love, without the pain.
Each
Female, courts thee with a wishing Eye,
While thou with auful pride, walk'st careless by;
Till thy kind Pledge, as last, marks out the
Dame,
Thou fancy'st most, to quench thy present flame.
[Page 142] Then from the Bed, submissive she retires.
And thankful for the grace, no more requires.
No loud reproach, nor fond unwelcome sound,
Of
Womens Tongues, thy sacred Ear does wound;
If any do, a nimble
Mute, strait tyes
The
True-loves-knot, and stops her foolish cryes.
Thou fear'st no injur'd
Kinsmans threatning Blade,
Nor Mid-night Ambushes, by
Rivals laid;
While here with aking Hearts, our joys we tast,
Disturb'd by Swords, like
Democles his Feast.
On Poet Ninny.
CRusht by that just contempt his
Follys bring,
On his craz'd
Head, the
Vermin fain wou'd sting.
But never
Satyr, did so softly bite,
Or gentle
George himself more gently write.
Born to no other, but thy own disgrace,
Thou art a thing so wretched, and so base,
Thou canst not ev'n offend, but with thy Face.
And dost at once a sad example prove,
Of harmless malice, and of hopeless love.
All pride! and ugliness! oh how we loath,
A nauseous
Creature, so compos'd of both!
How oft have we thy
Cap'ring Person seen,
With dismal look, and Melancholly
Meene,
The just reverse of
Nokes, when he wou'd be,
Some mighty
Heroe, and makes love like thee!
Thou art below being laught at, out of spight,
Men gaze upon thee, as a hideous sight,
And cry, there goes the Melancholly
Knight.
There are some modest
Fools, we dayly see,
Modest, and dull, why they are
Wits, to thee!
For of all
Folly, sure the very top,
Is a conceited
Ninny and a
Fop.
With Face of
Farce, joyn'd to a Head
Romancy,
Ther's no such
Coxcomb as your
Fool of fancy:
But 'tis too much on so dispis'd a
Theam.
No
Man wou'd dabble, in a dirty Stream:
[Page 144] The worst that I cou'd write, wou'd be no more,
Then what thy very
Friends, have said before.
My Lord All-Pride.
BUrsting with
Pride, the loath'd
Impostume swells,
Pr-k him, he sheads his
Venom strait, and smells;
But 'tis so lewd a
Scribler, that he writes,
with as much forch to
Nature, as he fights,
Hardned in shame, 'tis such a baffled
Fop,
That ev'ry
Scool-boy whips him like a Top:
And with his
Arme, and
Head, his
Brains so weak,
That his starved fancy, is compell'd to take,
Among the
Excrements of others wit,
To make a stinking
Meal of what they shit.
So
Swine, for nasty
Meat, to
Dunghil run,
And toss their gruntlinst
Snowts up when they've done:
Again his
Stars, the
Coxcomb ever strives.
And to be something they forbid, contrives.
With a
Red Nose, Splay Foot, and
Goggle Eye,
A
Plough Mans, looby
Meene, Face all a wry,
With stinking Breath, and ev'ry loathsome mark,
The
Punchianello, sets up for a
Spark,
With equal self conceit too, he bears Arms,
But with that vile success, his part performs,
[Page 145] That the
Burlesques his Trade, and what is best
In others, turns like
Harlequin, in jest.
So have I seen at
Smithfields wondrous
Fair,
When all his
Brother Monsters, florish there;
A
Lubbard Elephant, divert the
Town,
With making
Legs, and shooting off a
Gun.
Go where he will, he never fiends a
Eriend,
Shame, and derision, all his steps attend;
Alike abroad, at home, 'ith
Camp, and
Court,
This
Knight, o'th
Burning Pestle, make us sport.
Captain Ramble.
WHilst
Duns were knocking at my Door,
I lay in Bed with wreeking
Whore,
With Back so weak, and
Pr—k fo sore yo'ud wonder.
I rais'd my
Doe, and laid her
Gown,
I pinn'd her
VVhisk, and dropt a
Crown,
She pist, and then I drove her down
Like Thunder.
From Chamber then I went to Dinner,
And drank small Beer, like mournful Sinner,
But still I thaught the
Devil in her
Clytoris.
I sat at
Muscots, in the dark,
And heard a
Tradesman, and a
Spark,
A
Scriv'ner and a
Lawyers Clark,
Tell Stories.
From thence I went with muffled Face,
To the
Dukes House, and took a place,
In which I spew'd, may't please his
Grace
Or Highness.
Had I been hang'd, I cou'd not choose,
But laugh at
VVhores, who dropt from
Stews,
Seeing that
Mrs Marg'ret Hews,
So fine is.
When
Play was done, I call'd a
Link,
Hearing some paultry pieces chink
Within my
Breeches, how 'dye think
I employ'd em?
[Page 147] Why Sir, I went to
Mrs. Speerings,
Where some were Cursing, others
Swearing,
Never a
Barrel better
Herring,
Per fidem.
Seave'ns the
Main, 'tis Eight God damn me,
'Tis Six, (said I) as God shall save me;
And being true, they cou'd not blame me
So saying.
Save me (quoth one) what
Shamaroone,
Is this has beg'd an Afternoon,
Of's
Mother, to go up, and down,
A playing?
Now this to me, was worse than killing,
Mistake me not for I am willing;
And able both, to drop a
Shilling,
Or Two Sir.
Well said my
Lad, (Quoth
Bully Hack)
With
Whiskers stern, and
Cordibeck,
Pinn'd up behind his scabby Neck
To shew Sir.
With
Mangy Fist, he graspt the
Box,
Giving the
Table bloody knocks,
Calling upon the
Plague, and
Pox,
To assist him.
Ten Shillings from me, he did snach,
He'd like to have made a quick dispatch,
Nor wou'd Times
Register, my
VVatch,
Have mist him.
As luck wou'd have it in came
VVill,
Perceiving things went very ill,
Quoth he, thou'dst better go and swill,
Canary.
[Page 148] We stee'rd our Course to
Dragon Green,
Which in
Fleet-street to be seen,
Where we drank
VVine, not foul but clean
Contrary.
Our
Host Eclipsed
Thomas Hammon,
Presented slice of
Bacon Gamon,
VVhich made us swallow
Sack, as
Salmon
Does Water.
Being over warm with the last debauch,
I grew as drunk as any
Roach,
VVhen hot Back'd
Wardens did opproach,
Or later.
But see the damn'd confounded fate,
Attends on drinking
VVine so late,
I drew my Sword on honest
Kate
I'th Kitchin.
VVhich
Hammonds Wife cou'd not endure,
I told her though she look'd demure,
That she came latly I was sure,
From
Bitching
We broke our Glasses out of hand,
As many
Oaths, we did command,
As
Hastings, Savin, Southerland,
Or
Ogle.
Then I cry'd up
Sir Harry Fain,
And swore by God I wou'd mantain,
Episcopacy, was too plain,
A juggle.
And having now discharg'd the
House,
We did reserve a gentle
Souse,
With which we drank another
Rouse,
At the
Bar.
[Page 159] And now good
Christians, all attend,
To drunkenness, pray put an end,
I doe advise you as a
Friend,
And
Neighbor.
For lo the
mortal, here behold,
Who cautious was in days of old,
Is now become, rash, sturdy, bold,
And free Sir,
For having scap't the
Tavern so,
There never was a greater
Foe,
Encountr'd yet by
Pompey, no
Nor
Caesar.
A
Cunstable, both stern, and dread,
Who is from
Mustard, Brooms, and
Thread,
Preferr'd to be the
Brainless head
O'th'
People.
A Gown, h'ad on with Age made gray,
A
Hat too, which as
Folks do say,
Is Sir-name'd to this very Day,
A
Steeple.
His
Staff, which knew as well as he,
The business of
Authority,
Stood bolt upright at sight of me;
Most true tis.
The
Lowsey Currs, that heither come.
To keep the
Kings peace, safe at home,
Yet cannot keep the
Vermin from
Their
Cutis.
Stand, stand, says one, and come before,
You lye, said I, like a
Sun, of a
Where,
I can't, nor will not stand, that's more
De mutter?
[Page 150] You watchful
Knaves, I'll tell you what,
Your
Officer, i'th'
May-Pole-Hat,
I'll make as drunk as any
Rat.
Or
Otter.
The
Constable began to swell,
Although he lik'd the motion well,
Quoth he my
Friends, this I must tell
You clearly.
The
Pestilence yon can't forget,
Nor th' dispute with the
Dutch, nor yet
The dreadful
Fire, that made us get
Up early.
From which (quoth he) I this infer,
To have a Bodies Conscience clear
Excelleth any costly Cheer,
Or Banquet.
Besides (and faith I think he wept)
Were it not better you had kept,
Within your Chamber, and have slept,
In
Blanket.
But I'll advise you by, and by,
—A pox of all advice said I,
Your
Janizaries look as dry,
As
Vulkan.
We came not here to talk of Sin,
—Come—here's a Shilling fetch it in.
Our business now is to begin,
A full
Can,
At last I made the
VVatch-men drunk,
Examin'd here, and there, a
Punck,
And then away to
Bed I slunk,
To hide it.
[Page 151] Now these my wishes are to you,
Who will those dangers not Eschue,
That ye may all go home, and spew,
As I did.
On Rome's Pardon.
IF
Rome can pardon Sins, as
Romans hold,
And if those
Pardons, can be bought and sold,
It were no Sin, t'adore, and worship
Gold.
If they can purchase
Pardons with a Sum,
For Sins they may commit in time to come,
And for Sins past, 'tis verywell for
Rome.
At this rate they are happy'st that have most;
They'll purchase
Heav'n at their own proper cost,
Alas! the Poor! all that are so are lost.
Whence came this knack, or when did it begin?
What
Author have they, or who brought it in?
Did
Christ, e're keep a
Cusiom-house for Sin?
Some subtle
Devil, without more ado,
Did certainly this sly invention brew,
To gull'em of their
Souls, and
Money too.
FINIS.