Once Horace fancied from a man,
He was transformed to a swan;
But Carthy, as from him thou learnest,
Has made the man a goose in earnest.
Talis erat quondum Tithoni splendida conjux,
Effulsit misera, sic Dea juncta viro,
Hunc tandem imminuit sensim longæva senectus,
Te vero extinxit Carole prima dies.
So blushed Aurora with celestial charms,
So bloomed the goddess in a mortal's arms,
He sunk at length to wasting age a prey,
But thy book perished on its natal day.
AD HORATIUM CUM CARTHIO CONSTRICTUM.
Lectores ridere jubes dum Carthius astat? Iste procul depellit olens tibi Mævius omnes: Sic triviis veneranda diu, Jovis inclyta proles Terruit, assumpto, mortales, Gorgonis ore.
Could Horace give so sad a monster birth,
Why then in vain he would excite our mirth;
His humour well our laughter. might command,
But who can bear the death's head in his hand.
AN IRISH EPIGRAM ON THE SAME.
While with the fustian of thy book,
The witty ancient you enrobe,
You make the graceful Horace look,
As pitiful as Tom M.Lobe. *
Ye Muses guard your sacred mount,
And Helicon, for if this log
Should stumble once into the fount,
He'll make it muddy as a bog.
ON CARTHY'S TRANSLATION OF LONGINUS.
High as Longinus to the stars ascends,
So deeply Carthy to the centre tends.
* A notorious Irish poetaster, whose name had become proverbial.
RATIO INTER LONGINUM ET CARTHIUM COMPUTATA.
Æthereas quantum Longinus surgit in auras,
Carthius en tantum ad Tartara tendit iter.
What Midas touched became true gold, but then, Gold becomes lead touched lightly by thy pen.
CARTHY KNOCKED OUT SOME TEETH FROM HIS NEWSBOY.
For saying he could not live by the profits of Carthy's works, as they did not sell.
I must confess that I was somewhat warm,
I broke his teeth, but where's the mighty harm?
My works he said could ne'er afford him meat,
And teeth are useless where there's nought to eat!
ON HIS SENDING ABOUT SPECIMENS TO FORCE PEOPLE TO SUBSCRIBE TO HIS LONGINUS.
Thus vagrant beggars to extort,
By charity a mean support,
Their sores and putrid ulcers show,
And shock our sense till we bestow.
On his accusing Mr Dunkin for not publishing his book of poems.
How different from thine is Dunkin's lot,
Thou'rt curst for publishing, and he for not.
ON CARTHY'S PUBLISHING SEVERAL LAMPOONS, UNDER THE NAMES OF INFAMOUS POETASTERS.
So witches bent on bad pursuits,
Assume the shapes of filthy brutes.
Thy labours Carthy long concealed from light,
Piled in a garret, charmed the author's sight,
But forced from their retirement into day,
The tender embryos half unknown decay;
Thus lamps which burn'd in tombs with silent glare,
Expire when first exposed to open air.
TO CARTHY, ATTRIBUTING SOME PERFORMANCES TO MR DUNKIN.
[From the Gentleman's London Magazine for January.]
My lines to him you give, to speak your due, 'Tis what no man alive will say of you.
Your works are like old Jacob's speckled goats,
Known by the verse, yet better by the notes.
Pope's essays upon some for Young's may pass,
But all distinguish thy dull leaden mass;
So green in different lights may pass for blue,
But what's dyed black will take no other hue.
DELICIE Sheridan Musarum, dulcis amice,
Sic tibi propitius Permessi ad flumen Apollo
Occurrat, seu te mimum convivia rident,
Equivocosque sales spargis, seu ludere versu
Malles; dic, Sheridan, quisnam fuit ille deorum,
Quæ melior natura orto tibi tradidit artem
Rimandi genium puerorum, atque ima cerebri
Scrutandi? Tibi nascenti ad cunabula Pallas
Astitit; & dixit, mentis præsaga futuræ,
Heu, puer infelix! nostro sub sidere natus ;
Nam tu pectus eris sine corpore, corporis umbra;
Sed levitate umbram superabis, voce cicadam:
Musca femur, palmis tibi mus dedit, ardea crura.
Corpore sed tenui tibi quod natura negavit,
Hoc animi dotes supplebunt; teque docente,
Nec longum tempus, surget tibi docta juventus,
Artibus egregiis animas instructa novellas.
Grex hinc Pæonius venit, ecce, salutifer orbi;
Ast, illa causas orant: his infula visa est
Divinam capiti nodo constringere mitram.
Natalis te horæ non fallunt signa, sed usque
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