EPIGRAM 13. BOOK V.
MOVIUS! I am, and have been ever poor,
A tradesman never, nor of birth obscure;
By all the world, while living, I am read,
And crown'd with fame, which few acquire when dead.
Thine a Contractor's wealth, and pomp, and state,
And sumptuous house, and services of plate;
But not the Muse;-for, hark!-(O doom severe !)
The public hiss still vibrates on thine ear :
Thus, what I am, thou canst not hope to be;
Though many a vulgar upstart rivals thee!
SUM, fateor, semperque fui, Callistrate, pauper,
Sed non obscurus, nec male notus eques;
Sed toto legor orbe frequens, et dicitur, Hic est;
Quodque cinis paucis, hoc mihi vita dedit:
At tua centenis incumbunt tecta columnis,
Et libertinas arca flagellat opes:
Magnaque Niliacæ servit tibi gleba Syenes,
Tondet et innumeros Gallica Parma greges,
Hoc ego, tuque sumus: sed quod sum, non potes esse;
Tu quod es, è populo quilibet esse potest.
WHEN DICK had reach'd the age of sixty-three,
He burst upon the world-a bel esprit:
Let him the lengthen'd age of NESTOR know,
And DICK in time will be a Cicero.
EPIGRAM 78. BOOK IV.
HAL gives us what he calls a costly treat,
And rich in every thing, but what's to eat;
For in such heaps his gold and silver shine,
As if we came to gaze, and not to dine.
HAL! we are starv'd with all this empty state,
And die, like Midas, in the midst of plate.
CUM sexaginta numeret Casselius annos,
Ingenious homo est, quando disertus erit?
AD cœnam nuper Varus me forte vocavit,
Ornatus dives, parvula cœna fuit.
Auro, non dapibus oneratur mensa, ministri
Apponunt oculis plurima, pauca gulæ.
Tunc ego, Non oculos, sed ventrem pascere veni;
Aut appone dapes, Vare, vel aufer opes.
EPIGRAM 64. BOOK III.
SAFE from the syren's tuneful air,
The sage ULYSSES fled:
But had that proser CHARLES been there,
He would have talk'd him dead!
EPIGRAM 33. BOOK III.
A maid of fair descent should be my bride,
A yeoman's daughter next, were birth deny❜d;
And last of all, if neither I could get,
I'd honour with my choice some kind grisette:
Nor then regret, if fair in face I thought her,
The maid of fair descent, or yeoman's daughter.
EPIG. 64. LIB. III.
SIRENAS hilarem navigantium pœnam,
Blandasque mortes, guadiumque crudele,
Quas nemo quondam deserebat auditas,
Fallax Ulysses dicitur reliquisse.
Non miror: illud, Cassiane, mirarer,
Şi fabulantem Canium reliquisset.
EPIG. 33. LIB. III.
INGENUAM malo: sed si tamen illa negetur,
Libertina mihi proxima conditio est :
Extrema est ancilla loco: sed vincet utramque,
Si facie nobis hæc erit ingenua.
THAT CHARLES, who rhimes himself, objections
I little car'd-the partial public prais'd:
For when I give a feast, I rather look
To gratify a guest, than please a cook.
EPIGRAM 43. BOOK VI.
TO LORD BRAYBROOKE.
WHILE you, dear BRAYBROOKE from the town retreat,
To Essex or in Berks, your ancient seat;
Me the wild scenes of Hampstead-Heath detain,
And my snug cottage with its small domain.
Yet though for me 'twere madness to pretend,
To rival Billingbear or Audley-End;
LECTOR et auditor nostros probat, Aule, libellos:
Sed quidam exactos esse poeta negat.
Non nimium curo: nam cœnæ fercula nostræ
Malim convivis, quam placuisse cocis.
DUM tibi felices indulgent, Castrice, Baiæ:
Canaq; sulphureis nympha natatur aquis:
Within my reach such solid comforts rise,
Such lovely objects charm my ravish'd eyes;
That both my reason and my heart approve
"The humble blessing of that life I love."'*
There was a time, when young and gay, I flew
From place to place, in search of something new;
Where our old Druidst held their dark abodes,
Fearless of lonely inns, and dangerous roads;
But to domestic comforts now alive,
And something more sedate at fifty-five,
In my lov'd bower I hope my days to end,
Cheer'd by the converse of my noble friend:
-Me Nomentani confirmant otia ruris,
Et casa jugeribus non one osa suis.
Hic mihi Baiani soles, mollisque Lucrinus:
Hic vestræ mihi sunt, Castrice, divitiæ.
Quondam laudatas quocunque libebat ad undas
Alluding to a Tour made by the Author into Wales
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