Imatges de pàgina
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Then, like the dogs of Nile, be wise, Who, taught by instinct, how to shun The crocodile that lurking lies,

Run as they drink, and drink and run.

Antæus could, by magic charms,
Recover strength whene'er he fell;
Alcides held him in his arms,
And sent him up in air to hell.

Directors thrown into the sea
Recover strength and vigour there,
may be tamed another way,
Suspended for a while in air.

But

Directors! for 'tis you I warn,

By long experience we have found What planet ruled when you were born; We see you never can be drown'd.

Beware, nor over-bálky grow,

Nor come within your cully's reach ; For if the sea should sink so low To leave you dry upon the beach,

You'll owe your ruin to your bulk;

Your foes already waiting stand, To tear you like a founder'd hulk,

While you lie helpless on the sand.

Thus when a whale hath lost the tide, The coasters crowd to seize the spoil, The monster into parts divide,

And strip the bones and melt the oil.

Oh! may some western tempest sweep These locusts, whom our fruits have fed, That plague, Directors, to the deep,

Driven from the South Sea to the Red!

May he whom Nature's laws obey,
Who lifts the poor, and sinks the proud,
Quiet the raging of the sea,

And still the madness of the crowd!

But never shall our isle have rest
Till those devouring swine run down,
(The devils leaving the possess'd)
And headlong in the waters drown.

The nation then too late will find
Computing all their cost and trouble,
Directors' promises but wind,

South Sea at best a mighty bubble.

Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto,

Arma virum, tabulæque, et Troia gaza per undas.

VIRG.

THE COUNTRY LIFE.

PART OF A SUMMER SPENT AT THE HOUSE OF GEORGE ROCHFORT, Esq.

1723.

THALIA, tell in sober lays

How George, Nim, Dan, Dean, pass their days.
Begin, my Muse! First, from our bowers,
We sally forth at different hours;

At seven the Dean, in night-gown dress'd,
Goes round the house to wake the rest;
At nine grave Nim, and George facetious,
Go to the Dean to read Lucretius;
At ten, my lady comes and hectors,
And kisses George, and ends our lectures;
And when she has him by the neck fast,
Hawls him, and scolds us down to breakfast.
We squander there an hour or more,

And then all hands, boys! to the oar,

All, heteroclite Dan except,

Who neither time nor order kept,
But, by particular whimseys drawn,
Peeps in the ponds to look for spawn;
O'ersees the work, or Dragon rows,
Or mars a text, or mends his hose;
Or-but proceed we in our journal-
At two, or after, we return all;

From the four elements assembling,

Warn'd by the bell, all folks come trembling:

From airy garrets some descend,

Some from the lake's remotest end:

My lord and Dean the fire forsake,
Dan leaves the earthly spade and rake:
The loiterers quake, no corner hides them,
And Lady Betty soundly chides them.
Now water's brought, and dinner's done;
With Church and King the Lady's gone;
(Not reckoning half an hour we pass
In talking o'er a moderate glass)
Dan, growing drowzy, like a thief
Steals off to dose away his beef;

And this must pass for reading Hammond----
While George and Dean go to backgammon.
George, Nim, and Dean, set out at four,
And then again, boys! to the oar.
But when the sun goes to the deep,
(Not to disturb him in his sleep,
Or make a rumbling o'er his head,
His candle out, and he abed)
We watch his motions to a minute,
And leave the flood when he goes in it,
Now stinted in the shortening day,
We go to prayers, and then to play
Till supper comes; and after that
We sit an hour to drink and chat.
"Tis late-the old and younger pairs,
By Adam lighted, walk up stairs:

The weary
Dean goes to his chamber,
But Nim and Dan to garret clamber:
So when the circle we have run,

The curtain falls, and all is done.

I might have mention'd several facts,
Like episodes between the acts,
And tell who loses and who wins,
Who gets a cold, who breaks his shins,

How Dan caught nothing in his net,
And how the boat was overset;
For brevity I have retrench'd

How in the lake the Dean was drench'd:
It would be an exploit to brag on,

How valiant George rode o'er the Dragon,
How steady in the storm he sat,

And saved his oar, but lost his hat;

How Nim (no hunter e'er could match him)
Still brings us hares when he can catch them;
How skilfully Dan mends his nets,
How fortune fails him when he sets;
Or how the Dean delights to vex
The ladies, and lampoon the sex;
Or how our neighbour lifts his nose,
To tell what every schoolboy knows,
Then with his finger on his thumb
Explaining, strikes opposers dumb;
Or how his wife, that female pedant,
(But now there need no more be said on't)
Shows all her secrets of housekeeping;
For candles how she trucks her dripping;
Was forced to send three miles for yeast,
To brew her ale, and raise her paste;
Tells every thing that you can think of,
How she cured Tommy of the chincough;
What gave her brats and pigs the measles,
And how her doves were kill'd by weasels;
How Jowler howl'd, and what a fright
She had with dreams the other night.
But now, since I have gone so far on,
A word or two of lord chief baron',

1 Mr. Rochfort's father,

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