A draught from Helicon could once inspire
The bard to wing in song his loftiest flight;
But poets of these later times require
A draft from Wall Street, payable at sight.
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PETER (says Pope) won't poison with his meat;
'Tis true, for Peter gives you nought to eat. -
WHEN JOVE with fair Alcmena lay,
He kept the sun a-bed all day;
That he might taste her wond'rous charms,
Two nights together in her arms.
Were I of Celia's charms possess'd,
Melting on that delicious breast,
And could, like JOVE, thy beams restrain,
Sun, thou should'...THAT Kate weds a fool what wonder can be,
Her husband has married a fool great as she.Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigu'd, I said,
Tie up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead.
The dog-star rages! nay 'tis past a doubt,
All Bedlam, or Parnassus, is let out:
Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand,
They rave, recite, and madden round the land.
What walls can guard me, or what...'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;
Nor that I mean, while thus I knit
My thread-bare sentiments together,
To show my genius...
An Epitaph
Come knock your heads against this stone
For sorrow that poor John Thompsons goneAs when untaught and blind,
To the mute stone the pagan bows his knee,
Spirit of Love! phantom of my own mind!
So have I worshipped thee!
When first a laughing child,
I gazed on nature with a wondering eye,
I...
* * *
The Errors of a Wise Man make your Rule
Rather than the Perfections of a Fool