See then what mortals place their blifs in !
Next morn betimes the bride was miffing:
The mother scream'd, the father chid;
Where can this idle wench be hid?
No news of Phyl! the bridegroom came,
And thought his bride had skulk'd for shame;
Because her father us'd to fay,
The girl had fuch a bashful way!
Now John the butler must be sent
To learn the road that Phyllis went.
The groom was wish'd to faddle Crop ;
For John muft neither light nor ftop,
But find her, wherefoe'er fhe fled,
And bring her back, alive or dead.
See here again the devil to do!
For truly John was miffing too :
The horse and pillion both were gone!
Phyllis, it feems, was fled with John.
Old Madam, who went up to find
What papers Phyl had left behind,
A letter on the toilet fees,
Το much-honour'd father
my
('Tis always done, romances tell us,
When daughters run away with fellows)
Fill'd with the choiceft common-places,
By others us'd in the like cafes.
"That long ago a fortune-teller
46 Exactly faid what now befel her;
"And in a glass had made her sec
"A ferving-man of low degree.
"It was her fate, muft be forgiven; "For marriages were made in heaven: "His pardon begg'd: but, to be plain, "She 'd do 't, if 'twere to do again : "Thank'd God, 'twas neither fhame nor fin; "For John was come of honeft kin. "Love never thinks of rich and poor : "She'd beg with John from door to door.
Forgive her, if it be a crime;
"She'll never do 't another time.
"She ne'er before in all her life "Once difobey'd him, maid nor wife. "One argument fhe fumm'd up all in, "The thing was done, and past recalling; "And therefore hop'd fhe fhould recover "His favour, when his passion's over. "She valued not what others thought her, "And was his moft obedient daughter." Fair maidens, all attend the Muse, Who now the wandering pair pursues : Away they rode in homely fort,
Their journey long, their money fhort;
The loving couple well bemir'd;
The horse and both the riders tir'd:
Their victuals bad, their lodging worse;
Phyl cry'd and John began to curfe :
Phyl wifh'd, that she had ftrain'd a limb,
When firft fhe ventur'd out with him;
John wifh'd, that he had broke a leg,
When firft for her he quitted Peg.
But what adventures more befel them,
The Mufe hath now no time to tell them,
How Johnny wheedled, threaten'd, fawn'd,
Till Phyllis all her trinkets pawn'd:
How oft' fhe broke her marriage vows
In kindness to maintain her fpoufe,
Till fwains unwholefome fpoil'd the trade;
For now the furgeons must be paid,
To whom those perquifites are gone,
In Chriftian juftice due to John.
When food and raiment now grew fcarce,
Fate put a period to the farce,
And with exact poetic juftice;
For John was landlord, Phyllis hoftefs;
They keep, at Staines, the Old Blue Boar,
Are cat and dog, and rogue and whore.
ELICIA Sheridan Mufarum, dulcis amice, Si tibi propitius Permeffi ad flumen Apollo Occurrat, feu te mimum convivia rident, Equivocofque fales fpargis, feu ludere verfu Malles; dic, Sheridan, quifnam fuit ille deorum, Quæ melior natura orto tibi tradidit artem Rimandi genium puerorum, atque ima cerebri Scrutandi? Tibi nafcenti ad cunabula Pallas
Aftitit; & dixit, mentis præfaga futuræ,
infelix noftro fub fidere natus ;
Nam tu pectus eris fine corpore, corporis umbra;
Sed levitate umbram fuperabis, voce cicadam :
Mufca femur, palmas tibi mus dedit, ardea crura.
Corpore fed tenui tibi quod natura negavit,
Hoc animi dotes fupplebunt; teque docente,
Nec longum tempus, furget tibi docta juventus,
Artibus egregiis animas inftructa novellas.
Grex hinc Pæonius, venit, ecce, falutifer orbi.
Aft, illi caufas orant; his infula vifa eft
Divinam capiti nodo conftringere mitram.
Natalis te horæ non fallunt figna, fed ufque
Confcius, expedias puero feu lætus Apollo
Nafcenti arrifit; five illum frigidus horror
Saturni premit, aut feptem inflavere triones.
Quin tu altè penitufque latentia femina cernis,
Quæque diu obtundendo olim fub luminis auras
Erumpent, promis; quo ritu fæpè puella
Sub cinere hefterno fopitos fufcitat ignes.
Te dominum agnofcit quocunque fub aëre natus ;
Quos indulgentis nimium cuftodia matris
Peffundat: nam fæpè vides in ftipite matrem.
Aureus at ramus, venerandæ dona Sibyllæ,
Æneæ fedes tantùm patefecit Avernus;
Sæpè puer tua quem tetigit femel aurea virga
Coelumque terrafque videt, noctemque profundam..
ADDRESSED TO ABP. KING. 1718.
VIRTUE conceal'd within our breaft
Is inactivity at best :
But never fhall the Muse endure
To let your virtues lie obfcure,
Or fuffer Envy to conceal
Your labours for the public weal.
Within your breast all wisdom lies,
Either to govern or advise;
Your steady foul preferves her frame
In good and evil times the fame.
Pale Avarice and lurking Fraud
Stand in your facred prefence aw'd;
Your hand alone from gold abstains,
Which drags the flavish world in chains.
Him for a happy man I own,
Whofe fortune is not overgrown ;
And happy he, who wifely knows
To use the gifts that Heaven bestows;
Or, if it please the Powers Divine,
Can fuffer want, and not repine.
The man, who infamy to shun
Juto the arms of death would run,
That man is ready to defend
With life his country or his friend.
|