'Tis not that I design to rob Thee of thy birthright, gentle Bob, For thou art born sole heir, and single, Of dear Mat Prior's easy jingle; Not that I mean, while thus I knit...
I ransack'd for a theme of song, Much ancient chronicle, and long; I read of bright embattled fields, Of trophied helmets, spears, and shields, Of chiefs, whose single arm could boast...
Say, ye apostate and profane, Wretches, who blush not to disdain Allegiance to your God,' Did e'er your idly wasted love Of virtue for her sake remove And lift you from the crowd?
Says the pipe to the snuff-box, I can't understand What the ladies and gentlemen see in your face, That you are in fashion all over the land, And I am so much fallen into disgrace.
Doom'd, as I am, in solitude to waste The present moments, and regret the past; Deprived of every joy I valued most, My friend torn from me, and my mistress lost;...
Oh, fond attempt to give a deathless lot To names ignoble, born to be forgot! In vain recorded in historic page, They court the notice of a future age: Those twinkling tiny lustres of the land...
In language warm as could be breathed or penn'd Thy picture speaks the original, my friend, Not by those looks that indicate thy mind' They only speak thee friend of all mankind;...
I should have deem'd it once an effort vain To sweeten more sweet Maro's matchless strain, But from that error now behold me free, Since I received him as a gift from thee.
O that those lips had language! Life has pass'd With me but roughly since I heard thee last. Those lips are thine'thy own sweet smile I see, The same that oft in childhood solaced me;...
Between Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose, The spectacles set them unhappily wrong; The point in dispute was, as all the world knows, To which the said spectacles ought to belong. ...