Then fouthward let your bard retire,
Hold out fome months 'twixt Sun and Fire,
And you shall see the firft warm Weather,
Me and the Butterflies together.
My Lord, your Favours well I know; "Tis with distinction you bestow;
And not to ev'ry one that comes,
Juft as a Scotfman does his Plums.
Pray take them, Sir-Enough's a Feast: "Eat fome, and pocket up the rest”— What, rob your Boys? thofe pretty rogues! "No, Sir, you'll leave them to the Hogs." Thus Fools with Compliments besiege ye, Contriving never to oblige ye.
Scatter your favours on a Fop,
Ingratitude's the certain crop ;
And 'tis but juft, I'll tell you wherefore,
You give the things you never care for.
A wife man always is or fhou'd
Be mighty ready to do good;
Ad mare defcendet vates tuus, et fibi parcet,
Contractufque leget; te, dulcis amice, revifet
Cum Zephyris, fi concedes, et hirundine primâ.
Non, quo more pyris vefci Calaber jubet hofpes,
Tu me fecifti locupletem. Vefcere fodes.
Jam fatis eft.
At tu quantumvis tolle. Benigne.
Non invifa feres pueris munufcula parvis.
Tam teneor dono, quàm fi dimittar onuftus.
Ut libet haec porcis hodie comedenda relinques.
Prodigus et ftultus donat quae fpernit et odit :
Haec feges ingratos tulit et feret omnibus annis.
Vir bonus et fapiens, dignis ait effe paratum!
But makes a diff'rence in his thought
Betwixt a Guinea and a Groat.
Now this I'll fay, you'll find in me
A fafe Companion, and a free;
But if you'd have me always near —
A word, pray, in your Honour's ear.
I hope it is your Refolution
To give me back my Constitution!
The fprightly Wit, the lively Eye,
Th' engaging Smile, the Gaiety,
That laugh'd down many a Summer Sun,
And kept you up fo oft till one:
And all that voluntary Vein,
As when Belinda rais'd my Strain.
A Weazel once made fhift to flink
In at a Corn-loft through a Chink ;
But having amply ftuff'd his fkin,
Could not get out as he got in:
Which one belonging to the House
('Twas not a Man, it was a Moufe)
Obferving, cry'd, "You 'fcape not so,
"Lean as you came, Sir, you must go."
Nec tamen ignorat, quid diftent aëra lupinis ?
Dignum praeftabo me, etiam pro laude merentis.
Quod fi me noles ufquam difcedere; reddes
Forte latus, nigros angufta fronte capillos:
Reddes dulce loqui :, reddes ridere decorum, et
Inter vina fugam Cynarae moerere protervae.
Forte per anguftam tenuis vulpecula rimam
Repferat in cumeram frumenti: paftaque, rurfus
Ire foras pleno tendebat corpore fruftra,
Cui muftela procul, Si vis, ait, effugere iftinc;
Macra cavum repetes arctum, quem macra fubifti.
Sir, you may spare your Application,
I'm no fuch Beast, nor his Relation;
Nor one that Temperance advance,
Cramm'd to the Throat with Ortolans:
Extremely ready to refign
All that may make me none of mine.
South-fea Subfcriptions take who please,
Leave me but Liberty and Eafe.
"Twas what I faid to Craggs and Child,
Who prais'd my Modefty, and fmil'd.
Give me, I cry'd (enough for me),
My Bread, and Independency!
So bought an Annual-rent or two,
And liv'd-just as you fee I do;
Near fifty, and without a Wife,
I trust that finking Fund, my Life.
Can I retrench? Yes, mighty well,
Shrink back to my Paternal Cell,
A little Houfe, with Trees a-row,
And, like its Master, very low.
There dy'd my Father, no man's Debtor,
And there I'll die, nor worse nor better.
Hac ego fi compellar imagine, cuncta refigno;
Nec fomnum plebis laudo fatur altilium, nec
Otia divitiis Arabum liberrima muto.
Saepe verecundum laudâfti: Rexque, Paterque
Audîsti coram, nec verbo parcius abfens :
Infpice, fi poffum donata reponere laetus.
Parvum parva decent. mihi jam non regia Roma,
Sed vacuum Tibur placet, aut imbelle Tarentum.
To fet this Matter full before ye,
Our old Friend Swift will tell his Story.
"Harley, the Nation's great Support," But you may read it, I ftop fhort.
Strenuus et fortis, caufifque Philippus agendis Clarus, &c.
The first Part imitated in the Year 1714, by Dr. SWIFT; the latter Part added afterwards.
I'VE often wish'd that I had clear
For life, fix hundred pounds a-year,
A handfome Houfe to lodge a Friend,
A River at my Garden's end,
A Terras-walk, and half a Rood
Of Land, fet out to plant a Wood.
Well, now I have all this and more,
I ask not to increase my store;
But here a Grievance feems to lie,
All this is mine but till I die;
I can't but think 'twould found more clever,
To me and to my Heirs for ever."
erat in votis: modus agri non ita magnus,
Hortus ubi, et tecto vicinus jugis aquae fons,
Et paulum filvae fuper his foret. auctius, atque
Dî melius fecere. bene eft. nil amplius oro,
Maia nate, nifi ut propria haec mihi munera faxis.
• If I ne'er got or loft a groat, By any Trick, or any Fault;
And if I pray by Reafon's rules,
⚫ And not like Forty other Fools :
As thus: "Vouchfafe, oh Gracious Maker! *To grant me this and t'other Acre:
"Or, if it be thy Will and Pleasure,
"Direct my Plow to find a Treasure :"
But only what my Station fits,
And to be kept in my right Wits,
Preserve, Almighty Providence!
Juft what you gave me, Competence:
And let me in thefe Shades compofe
Something in Verse as true as Profe;
Remov'd from all th' Ambitious Scene,
Nor puff'd by Pride, nor funk by Spleen.'
In fhort, I'm perfectly content,
Let me but live on this fide 'Trent;
Nor crofs the Channel twice a year,
To spend fix Months with Statefmen here.
Si neque majorem feci ratione mala rem,
Nec fum facturus vitio culpáve minorem :
Si veneror ftultus nihil horum, O fi angulus ille
Proximus accedat, qui nunc denormat agellum !
O fi urnam argenti fors quae mihi monftret! ut illi,
Thefauro invento qui mercenarius agrum
Illum ipfum mercatus aravit, dives amico
Hercule: fi, quod adeft, gratum juvat: hâc prece te oro,
Pingue pecus domino facias, et caetera praeter
Ingenium; utque foles, cuftos mihi maximus adfis.
Ergo ubi me in montes et in arcem ex urbe removi,
Quid prius illuftrem Satiris Mufaque pedeftri ?
Nec mala me ambitio perdit, nec plumbeus Aufter,
Autumnufque gravis, Libitinae quaeftus acerbae.
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