Imatges de pàgina
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XI.

Alas, how fleeting and how vain,

Is ev'n the nobler man, our learning and our wit'! I figh whene'er I think of it:

As at the closing of an unhappy scene

Of fome great king and conqueror's death, When the fad melancholy Mufe

Stays but to catch his utmost breath.

I grieve, this nobler work moft happily begun,
So quickly and fo wonderfully carry'd on,
May fall at last to intereft, folly, and abuse.
There is a noon-tide in our lives,

Which ftill the fooner it arrives,
Although we boast our winter-fun looks bright,
And foolishly are glad to fee it at its height,
Yet fo much fooner comes the long and gloomy night.
No conqueft ever yet begun,

And by one mighty hero carried to its height,
E'er flourish'd under a fucceffor or a fon;

It loft fome mighty pieces through all hands it past,
And vanifh'd to an empty title in the laft.
For, when the animating mind is fled
(Which nature never can retain,

Nor e'er call back again)

The body, though gigantic, lies all cold and dead.

XII.

And thus undoubtedly 'twill fare, With what unhappy men fhall dare To be fucceffors to thefe great unknown, On Learning's high-eftablish'd throne.

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Čenfure, and Pedantry, and Pride,

Numberless nations, stretching far and wide,
Shall (Iforesee it) foon with Gothic fwarms come forth
From Ignorance's univerfal North,

And with blind rage break all this peaceful govern

ment:

Yet fhall these traces of your wit remain,
Like a juft map, to tell the vaft extent
Of conqueft in your fhort and happy reign;
And to all future mankind fhew

How ftrange a paradox is true,

That men who liv'd and dy'd without a name, Are the chief heroes in the facred lift of fame.

Written in a Lady's Ivory Table-book, 1699.

PERUSE my leaves through every part,
And think thou feeft my owner's heart,
Scrawl'd o'er with trifles thus, and quite,
As hard, as fenfelefs, and as light;
Expos'd to every coxcomb's eyes,
But hid with caution from the wife.
Here you may read, "Dear charming faint!"
Beneath, "A new receipt for paint :'
Here, in beau-spelling, "True tel deth;"
There, in her own, "For an el breth :"
Here, “Lovely nymph, pronounce my doom!"
There, “ A fafe way to use perfume :”
Here, a page fill'd with billet-doux:
Ou t'other fide, "Laid out for fhoes
Madam, I die without your grace"-
"It, for half a yard of lace."

Who

Who that had wit would place it here,

For every peeping fop to jeer?
In power of spittle and a clout,
Whene'er he please to blot it out;
And then, to heighten his difgrace,
Clap his own nonfenfe in the place.
Whoe'er expects to hold his part
In fuch a book, and fuch a heart,
If he be wealthy, and a fool,
Is in all points the fittest tool;

Of whom it may be juftly faid,
He's a gold pencil tipp'd with lead,

MRS. HARRIS's PETITION.

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1699.

O their Excellencies the Lords Juftices of Ireland*, The humble petition of Frances Harris, Who muft ftarve, and die a maid, if it mifcarries; Humbly fheweth,

That I went to warm myself in lady Betty's † chamber, because I was cold;

And I had in a purfe feven pounds, four fhillings, and fix pence, befides farthings in money and gold; So, because I had been buying things for my Lady laft night,

I was refolved to tell my money, to fee if it was right.

The earls of Berkeley and of Galway. + Lady Betty Berkeley, afterward Germaine.

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Now, you
must know, because my
bad lock,

trunk has a very

Therefore all the money I have, which, God knows, is a very fmall flock,

I keep in my pocket, ty'd about my middle, next to my fmock.

So when I went to put up my purfe, as God would have it, my fmock was unript,

And, inftead of putting it into my pocket, down it flipt;

Then the bell rung, and I went down to put my Lady to-bed;

And, God knows, I thought my money was as fafe maidenhead.

as my

So, when I came up again, I found my pocket feel very light;

But when I fearch'd, and mifs'd my purfe, Lord! I thought I fhould have funk outright.

Lord! Madam, fays Mary, how d'ye do? Indeed, fays I, never worse:

But pray, Mary, can you tell what I have done with my purfe?

Lord help me! fays Mary, I never ftirr'd out of this place:

Nay, faid I, I had it in Lady Betty's chamber, that's a plain cafe.

So Mary got me to bed, and cover'd me up warm; However, fhe ftole away my garters, that I might do myself no harm.

So I tumbled and tofs'd all night, as you may very well think,

But hardly ever fet my eyes together, or flept a wink.

So I was a-dream'd, methought, that we went and fearch'd the folks round,

*

And in a corner of Mrs. Dukes's box, ty'd in a rag, the money was found.

So next morning we told Whittle †, and he fell afwearing:

Then my dame Wadgar ‡ came; and fhe, you know, is thick of hearing.

Dame, faid I, as loud as I could bawl, do you know what a lofs I have had?

Nay, faid fhe, my lord Colway's § folks are all very fad:

For my Lord Dromedary || comes a Tuesday with

out fail.

Pugh! faid I, but that's not the bufinefs that I ail, Says Cary**, fays he, I have been a fervant this five and twenty years, come spring,

And in all the places I liv'd I never heard of fuch a thing.

Yes, fays the fteward ††, I remember when I was at my Lady Shrewsbury's,

Such a thing as this happen'd just about the time of goofeberrics.

So I went to the party fufpected, and I found her full of grief;

Now, you must know, of all things in the world, 1 hate a thief:

* Wife to one of the footmen.

+ Earl of Berkeley's valet.

The old deaf housekeeper.

$ Galway.

The earl of Drogheda, who with the primate was to fucceei

the two earls.

* Clerk of the kitchen.

tt Ferris.

However,

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