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Some wag observes me thus perplext, And smiling whispers to the next, "I thought the dean had been too proud "To justle here among a croud."

Another in a furly fit

n pleas'd

2

35

Tells me, I have more zeal than wit; " So eager to express your love, "You ne'er confider whom you shove, " But rudely press before a duke." I own, I'm pleas'd with this rebuke, 40 And take it kindly meant to show What I defire the world should know. I get a whisper, and withdraw, When twenty fools I never faw Come with petitions fairly penn'd, Defiring I wou'd stand their friend. This humbly offers me his cafe --That begs my int'rest for a place --An hundred other men's affairs Like bees are humming in my ears. "To-morrow my appeal comes on, "Without your help the cause is gone"--

45

50

35. Quid vis, insane, et quas res agis? improbus urget,
Iratis precibus, tu pulses omne quod obstat,
Ad Mecenatem memori fi mente recurras.
Hoc juvat, et melli est, non mentiar. --

44. Aliena negotia centum

Per caput et circa faliunt latus.

The 55

The duke expects my lord and you
About some great affair at two---
" Put my lord Bolingbroke in mind
"To get my warrant quickly sign'd:
"Confider, 'tis my first request."---
Be fatisfy'd, I'll do my best : ---
Then presently he falls to teize,
" You may for certain, if you please; 60
" I doubt not, if his lordship knew
"And, mr. dean, one word from you"---
'Tis (let me fee) three years and more

(October next it will be four)
Since Harley bid me first attend,
And chose me for an humble friend;
Wou'd take me in his coach to chat,
And question me of this and that;

As,

--

65

"What's o'clock?" and "how's -the wind?

"Whose chariot's that we left behind?" 70

Or gravely try to read the lines
Writ underneath the country figns;
Or, "have you nothing new to-day

"From Pope, from Parnel, or from Gay?"

60. --Si vis, potes, addit et inftat.
63. Septimus oltavo propior jam fugerit annus,
Ex quo Mecenas me cæpit habere fuorum
In numero; duntaxat ad hoc, quem tollere rheda
Vellet iter faciens, et cui concredere nugas.

T

Such

::

75

Such tattle often entertains
My lord and me as far as Stains,
As once a week we travel down
To Windsor, and again to town,
Where all that passes inter nos
Might be proclaim'd at Charing-crofs.80
Yet some I know with envy swell,

Because they fee me us'd so well :
"How think you of our friend the dean?
" I wonder what some people mean;

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My lord and he are grown so great, 85

--

"Always together, tête à tête "What, they admire him for his jokes --"See but the fortune of fome folks!"

3

90

There flies about a strange report Of fome express arriv'd at court, I'm stopp'd by all the fools I meet, And catechis'd in ev'ry street. " You, mr. dean, frequent the great; " Inform us, will the emp'ror treat? "Or, do the prints and papers lye?" 95 Faith, fir, you know as much as I. "Ah! doctor, how you love to jest! " 'Tis now no secret"---I proteft

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89. Frigidus à roftris manat per compita rumor; Quicunque obvius eft, me confulit.

/

'Tis

'Tis one to me. --- " Then tell us, pray, " When are the troops to have their

pay?"

100

And though I folemnly declare
I know no more than my lord-mayor,
They stand amaz'd, and think me grown
The closest mortal ever known.

105

Thus in a fea of folly tofs'd My choicest hours of life are loft; Yet always wishing to retreat, Oh, could I fee my country-feat! There leaning near a gentle brook, Sleep, or peruse some ancient book! 110 And there in sweet oblivion drown Those cares that haunt the court and town!

101. Jurantem me scire nibil, mirantur, ut unum Scilicet egregii mortalem altique filenti.

108. O rus, quando ego te afpiciam, quandoque licebit Nunc veterum libris, nunc fomno, et inertibus horis Ducere follicite jucunda oblivia vitæ ?

* THE

HAPPY LIFE

OF A

COUNTRY PARSON.

In Imitation of MARTIAL.

PARSON, these things in thy poffeffing

Are better than the bishop's blessing.

A wife that makes conferves; a steed
That carries double when there's need;
October store, and best Virginia,
Tythe-pig, and mortuary guinea;
Gazettes fent gratis down, and frank'd,
For which thy patron's weekly thank'd;
A large concordance, bound long fince;
Sermons to Charles the first, when prince;
A chronicle of ancient standing;
A Chryfoftom to fmooth thy band in;
The Polyglott,---three parts,---my text,---
Howbeit,---likewise ---now to my next, ---
Lo here the Septuagint,---and Paul, ---
To fum the whole, --- the clofe of all.

He that has these, may pass his life,
Drink with the 'squire, and kiss his wife;
On Sundays preach, and eat his fill;
And faft on Fridays --- if he will;

Toaft

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