But were you as wicked as lewd Aretine, I wish you would tell me which way you incline. If when you return your road you don't line, On Thursday I'll pay my respects at your shrine, Wherever you bend, wherever you twine, In square, or in opposite, circle, or trine. Your beef will on Thursday be salter than brine; But if too many come, your madam will whine; I hope you will not think this a pasquine. GEORGE ROCHFORT'S VERSES, FOR THE REV. DR. SWIFT, dean of st. pATRICK'S, AT LARACON, NEAR TRIM. MUSA CLONSHOGHIANA. THAT Downpatrick's Dean, or Patrick's down went, Like two arrand Deans, two Deans errant I meant; So that Christmas appears at Bellcampe like a Lent, Gives the gamesters of both houses great discontent. Our parsons agree here, as those did at Trent, Dan's forehead has got a most damnable dent, Besides a large hole in his Michaelmas rent. But your fancy on rhyming so cursedly bent, With your bloody ouns in one stanza pent; Does Jack's utter ruin at picket prevent, For an answer in specie to yours must be sent ; So this moment at crambo (not shuffling) is spent, And I lose by this crotchet quaterze, point, and quint, Which you know to a gamester is great bitterment; But whisk shall revenge me on you, Batt, and Brent. Bellcampe, January 1, 1717. A COPY OF A COPY OF VERSES, FROM THOMAS SHERIDAN, CLERK, TO GEORGE-NIMDAN-DEAN, ESQ. Written July 15, 1721, at night. I'd have you t' know, George,1 Dan,2 Dean,3 and Nim,+ That I've learned how verse t' compose trim, Much better b'half th'n you, n'r you, n'r him, And that I'd rid'cule their 'nd your flam-flim. Ay b't then, p'rhaps, says you, t's a merry whim, With 'bundance of mark'd notes i'th' rim, 1 George Rochfort.---F. 3 Dr. Swift.---F. 2 Mr. Jackson.---F. Mr. John Rochfort, called by the Dean, Nimrod, or Nim, from his attachment to hunting. So th❜t I ought n't for t' be morose 'nd t' look grim, brim Mers, 'nd that my vis'ge's cov'r'd o'er with r'd pimPles: m'r'o'er though m' scull were ('s 'tis n't) 's [Sanh'drim, strong's tim Ber, 't must have ach'd. Th' clans of th' c'llege Pres'nt the'r humbl' and 'fect'nate respects; that 's t' say, D'ln', 'chlin, P. Ludl', Dic' St'wart, H'lsham, Capt'n P'rr' Walmsl', 'nd Longsh'nks Timm.1 GEORGE-NIM-DAN-DEAN'S ANSWER. DEAR Sheridan! a gentle pair Ere Vulcan comes to make him new. 1 Dr. James Stopford, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne.---F. The board on which we set our a―s, Nor praise I less that circumcision, By modern poets call'd elision, With which, in proper station placed, Thy polish'd lines are firmly braced.' Thus a wise tailor is not pinching, But turns at every seam an inch in: Or else, be sure, your broad-cloth breeches Will ne'er be smooth, nor hold their stitches. Thy verse, like bricks, defy the weather, When smooth'd by rubbing them together; Thy words so closely wedged and short are, Like walls, more lasting without mortar; By leaving out the needless vowels, You save the charge of lime and trowels. One letter still another locks, Each grooved and dovetail'd like a box; Thy muse is tuckt up and succinct; In chains thy syllables are linkt; Thy words together tied in small hanks, Close as the Macedonian phalanx ; Or like the umbo of the Romans, Which fiercest foes could break by no means. The critic, to his grief will find, How firmly these indentures bind. In the Dubl. edit.-- Makes thy verse smooth, and makes them last. So, in the kindred painter's art, How will they pore upon thy pages! To make a work completely fine, Long, long, long, long, like Dan's long nose. GEORGE-NIM-DAN-DEAN'S INVITATION TO THOMAS SHERIDAN. Gaulstown, Aug. 2, 1721. DEAR Tom, this verse, which however the beginning may appear, yet in the end's good metre, Is sent to desire that, when your August vacation comes, your friends you'd meet here. |