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Teach him that states, of native strength

possest,

Though very poor, may still be very blest; That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,

As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away;
While self-dependent power can time defy,
As rocks resist the billows and the sky.

THE HAUNCH OF VENISON;

A Poetical Epistle

TO LORD CLARE.

FIRST PRINTED IN MDCCLXV.

THE HAUNCH OF VENISON.

THANKS, my lord, for your venison, for finer or fatter

Never rang'd in a forest, or smok'd in a platter; The haunch was a picture for painters to study, The fat was so white, and the lean was so ruddy;

Though my stomach was sharp, I could scarce help regretting

To spoil such a delicate picture by eating: I had thoughts, in my chambers to place it in view,

To be shown to my friends as a piece of virtu; As in some Irish houses, where things are so-so, One gammon of bacon hangs up for a show; But, for eating a rasher of what they take pride in,

They'd as soon think of eating the pan it is fried in.

But hold let me pause-don't I hear you pronounce,

This tale of the bacon's a damnable bounce?

E

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