"Ho! Master Sam," quoth Sandys' sprite, "I hear the beat of Jacob's drums,2 Poor Ovid finds no quarter! See first the merry P 3 comes In haste, without his garter. "Then lords and lordlings, 'squires and knights, "What Fenton will not do, nor Gay, 4 5 6 "If Justice Philips' costive head "Let W-rw-k's muse with Ash-t join," 'Eustace Budgell (see Dunciad, ii. 397) and Walter Carey. Jacob Tonson, the publisher. 3 The Earl of Pembroke. Tom Burnet, son of the bishop, one of the authors of "Homerides. See Dunciad, iii. 179. 5 John Dunton, the bookseller. 144. See Dunciad, ii. Ambrose Philips was made Registrar (not Judge) of the Prerogative Court in Ireland by Bishop Boulter. (See Johnson's Lives of the Poets, ed. Napier, vol. iii. p. 259.) He translated the "Persian Tales" from the French in 1709. 7 Lord Warwick and Dr. Ashurst.---Carruthers. Tickell and Addison combine, And P-pe translate with Jervas. “L—— himself, that lively lord,' Who bows to every lady, Shall join with F 2 in one accord, And be like Tate and Brady. "Ye ladies too draw forth your pen, "Now Tonson, list thy forces all, For to poor Ovid shall befall "A metamorphosis more strange "shall Ovid Quoth Sandys: "To waste paper." A FAREWELL TO LONDON. IN THE YEAR 1715. EAR, damned distracting town, farewell! Thy fools no more I'll tease: This year in peace, ye critics, dwell, Ye harlots, sleep at ease! 1 Lord Lansdowne.-Carruthers. 2 Philip Frowde, a dramatic writer and fine scholar. -Carruthers. 3 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. 1 2 Soft B1 and rough C-s adieu, 3 The lively H——k3 and you May knock up whores alone. To drink and droll be Rowe allowed Farewell, Arbuthnot's raillery And Garth, the best good Christian he, Lintot, farewell! thy bard must go ; Heaven gives thee for thy loss of Rowe,* Why should I stay? Both parties rage; The wits in envious feuds engage: The love of arts lies cold and dead Perhaps "Brocas."-Courthope. 2 Craggs. 3 Lord Hinchinbroke. He was a colonel and a member of Parliament. 4 Rowe had the year before, on the accession of George I., been made Poet Laureate, one of the landsurveyors of the port of London, Clerk of the Closet to the Prince of Wales, and Secretary of Presentations under the Lord Chancellor. Such an accumulation of offices might well suspend for a season the poetical and publishing pursuits of Rowe.-Carruthers. 5 Charles Johnson, the dramatist. See Umbra, v. 3. Halifax died May 19, 1715. And not one Muse of all he fed Has yet the grace to mourn. My friends, by turns, my friends confound, Why make I friendships with the great, Or follow girls, seven hours in eight? Still idle, with a busy air, Deep whimsies to contrive; The gayest valetudinaire, Most thinking rake, alive. Solicitous for others' ends, Though fond of dear repose; Luxurious lobster-nights, farewell, Adieu to all, but Gay alone, Whose soul, sincere and free, Loves all mankind, but flatters none, And so may starve with me. 1 Miss Younger and her sister Mrs. Bicknell. They were actresses, and friends of Pope. TO LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU.' I. N beauty, or wit, No mortal as yet To question your empire has dared: Have thought that in learning, To yield to a lady was hard. II. Impertinent schools, With musty dull rules, Have reading to females denied ; The Bible to use, Lest flocks should be wise as their guide. III. 'Twas a woman at first (Indeed she was cursed) In knowledge that tasted delight, The laws should decree IV. Then bravely, fair dame, Resume the old claim, Which to your whole sex does belong; From a second bright Eve, The knowledge of right and of wrong. 1 First published in 1720 in Hammond's Miscellany. |