I ask'd thee oft what poets thou hast read, And lik'st the best. Still thou reply'st: The dead. I shall, ere long, with green turfs cover'd be; Then sure thou'lt like or thou wilt envy me.
All love that has not friendship for its base Is like a mansion built upon the sand. Though brave its walls as any in the land, And its tall turrets lift their heads in grace;...
Praised be the Art whose subtle power could stay Yon cloud, and fix it in that glorious shape; Nor would permit the thin smoke to escape, Nor those bright sunbeams to forsake the day;...
The eggs of pheasants wry-nosed Tooly sells, But ne'er so much as licks the speckled shells: Only, if one prove addled, that he eats With superstition, as the cream of meats....
Trap of a player turn'd a priest now is: Behold a sudden metamorphosis. If tithe-pigs fail, then will he shift the scene, And from a priest turn player once again.
Tom shifts the trenchers; yet he never can Endure that lukewarm name of serving-man: Serve or not serve, let Tom do what he can, He is a serving, who's a trencher-man.
Umber was painting of a lion fierce, And, working it, by chance from Umber's erse Flew out a crack, so mighty, that the fart, As Umber states, did make his lion start.
Urles had the gout so, that he could not stand; Then from his feet it shifted to his hand: When 'twas in's feet, his charity was small; Now 'tis in's hand, he gives no alms at all.
Ursley, she thinks those velvet patches grace The candid temples of her comely face; But he will say, whoe'er those circlets seeth, They be but signs of Ursley's hollow teeth.
So long, it seem'd, as Mary's faith was small, Christ did her woman, not her Mary call; But no more woman, being strong in faith, But Mary call'd then, as St. Ambrose saith.