Dear Cloe, how blubber'd is that pretty Face? Thy Cheek all on Fire, and Thy Hair all uncurl'd: Pr'ythee quit this Caprice; and (as old Falstaf says) Let Us e'en talk a little like Folks of This World. ...
Fire, Water, Woman, are Man's Ruin; Says wise Professor Vander Bruin. By Flames a House I hir'd was lost Last Year: and I must pay the Cost. This Spring the Rains o'erflow'd my Ground:...
When famed Varelst this little wonder drew, Flora vouchsafed the growing works to view; Finding the painter's science at a stand, The goddess snatch'd the pencil from his hand,...
My noble, lovely, little Peggy, Let this my First Epistle beg ye, At dawn of morn, and close of even, To lift your heart and hands to Heaven. In double duty say your prayer:...
Since hired for life, thy servile Muse must sing Successive conquests and a glorious King; Must of a man immortal vainly boast, And bring him laurels whatsoe'er they cost,...
Matthew met Richard, when or where From story is not mighty clear: Of many knotty points they spoke, And pro and con by turns they took: Rats half the manuscript have ate;...
But shall we take the Muse abroad, To drop her idly on the road, And leave our subject in the middle, As Butler did his Bear and Fiddle? Yet he, consummate master, knew When to recede and where pursue:...
Richard, who now was half asleep, Roused, nor would longer silence keep; And sense like this, in vocal breath, Broke from his twofold hedge of teeth. Now if this phrase too harsh be thought,...
As Cloe came into the Room t'other Day, I peevish began; Where so long cou'd You stay? In your Life-time You never regarded your Hour: You promis'd at Two; and (pray look Child) 'tis Four....
The train of equipage and pomp of state, The shining sideboard and the burnish'd plate, Let other ministers, great Anne, require, And partial fall thy gift to their desire....
When crowding folks, with strange ill faces, Were making legs, and begging places, And some with patents, some with merit, Tired out my good Lord Dorset's spirit: Sneaking I stood amongst the crew,...
Sir, As once a twelvemonth to the priest, Holy at Rome, here Antichrist, The Spanish king presents a jennet To show his love, that's all that's in it; For if his Holiness would thump...
Interr'd beneath this marble stone, Lie saunt'ring Jack and idle Joan. While rolling threescore years and one Did round this globe their courses run; If human things went ill or well;...
My Lord, Our weekly friends to-morrow meet At Matthew's palace in Duke-street, To try for once if they can dine On bacon-ham and mutton-chine. If, wearied with the great affairs...
When great Augustus govern'd ancient Rome, And sent his conquering bands to foreign wars, Abroad when dreaded, and beloved at home, He saw his fame increasing with his years,...
How long, deluded Albion, wilt thou lie In the lethargic sleep, the sad repose By which thy close thy constant enemy Has softly lull'd thee to thy woes? Or wake, degenerate isle, or cease to own...
Say, dearest Villiers, poor departed friend, (Since fleeting life thus suddenly must end) Say, what did all thy busy hopes avail, That anxious thou from pole to pole didst sail,...