Yet, if you can, with equal skill,
Let with the teeth the breath agree:
You should inclose good scents, not ill,
In that fair box of ivory.
ON AN OXFORD TOAST, WITH FINE EYES
AND A BAD VOICE.
LUCETTA'S charms our hearts surprise
At once with love and wonder:
She bears Jove's lightnings in her eyes,
But in her voice his thunder.
LUCIA thinks happiness consists in state;
She weds an idiot; but she eats in plate.
MEAT BETTER THAN SAUCE.
LUCINDA has the devil and all,
Of that bright thing we beauty call;
But if she yields not to my arms,
What care I for all her charms?
Beauty's the sauce to Love's high meat;
But who minds sauce that must not eat?
LIE on! while my revenge shall be,
To speak the very truth of thee.
ON THE STATUE OF ALEXANDER.
FROM THE GREEK.
LYSIPPUS' art can brass with life inspire,
Show Alexander's features and his fire;
The Statue seems to say, with upcast eye,
Beneath my rule the Globe of Earth shall lie;
Be Thou, O Jove, contented with thy Sky.
ON A VIRULENT FELLOW.
M, tho' he must abstain from meat,
Yet won't abstain from spite;
The rogue has nothing left to eat,
Yet can't forbear to bite.
M-L, a poet! why, thou'rt merry:
But prithee, where's thy judgment, Jerry?
What, he, with his damn'd fustian strains?
Believe me, if to th' muses he
Belongs, their pack-horse he must be,
To bear what Pegasus disdains.
THE MODEST RECITER.
M-RE always smiles, whenever he recites;
He smiles (you think) approving what he writes;
And yet, in this, no vanity is shown;
A modest man may like what's not his own.
MADE up of impregnated powder and clay,
And push'd, as haste made him, half form'd, into day;
Nature's journeyman sure, when he made him, was
drunk,
The head is so poorly dove-tail'd to the trunk;
Or indeed, being perch'd so awry on the shoulder,
It appears like a new one, cemented with solder.
MAMMON'S grown rich, does Mammon boast of
As well the stalled ox may boast his fat.
RECIPROCAL OBLIGATION.
MAN and Money, a mutual friendship show;
Man makes false Money; Money makes Man so.
IN PRAISE OF LIFE.
MANKIND may walk, unvex'd by strife,
Through every road of human life.
Fair wisdom regulates the bar,
And peace, concludes the wordy war.
At home, auspicious mortals find
Serene tranquillity of mind.
All beauteous nature decks the plain;
And merchants plough for gold the main.
Respect arises from our store;
Security, from being poor.
More joys the bands of Hymen give:
Th' unmarried with more freedom live.
If parents our blest lot we own;
Childless, we have no cause to moan.
Firm vigour crowns our youthful stage;
And venerable hair, old age.
Since all is good, then, who would cry,
"I'd never live, or quickly die."
MARO'S fam'd muse did find a diff'rent fate,
He gain'd Augustus' love; you, Nero's hate;
But 'twas an act more great and high, to move
A prince's envy, than a prince's love.
MARRY late, my dear Friend:-you may ask me what then?
Kill your wife by a quack, and ne'er marry again.
THE FIRST LOSS THE BEST.
MARTIN, pox on him, that impudent devil,
That now only lives by his shifts,
By borrowing of driblets, and gifts;
For a forlorn guinea I lent him last day,
Which I was assur'd he never would pay;
On my own paper would needs be so civil,
To give me a note of his hand:
But I did the man so well understand,
I had no great mind to be doubly trapan'd: And therefore told him 'twas needless to do't. For, said I, I shall not be hasty to dun ye, And 'tis surely enough to part with my money, Without losing my paper to boot.
MARY, a chambermaid, a brown-ey'd lass,
Complain'd that she all day in labour was;
I laugh'd at her simplicity, and said,
Surely at night then, you'll be brought to bed.
THE IRRESISTIBLE FAIR.
MASKWELL (her charms such havock make)
Vows e'en her grooms can ne'er resist her:
The grooms, who feel their taste at stake,
Swear they'll be d-d if e'er they kiss'd her.
PINNED TO A FRIEND'S BED-CURTAIN
ON HIS WEDDING-NIGHT.
MAY concord ever here remain,
Where gentlest love and beauty reign.
When she grows old, may she not show it,-
When he's in years, may she not know it.
A PRAYER FOR POETS.
MAY every poet long be bless'd with health,
And if it please the lady muses-wealth!
But, if too often eating makes them dull,
If none can write well while the pocket's full,
Their wonted skill ye gentle nine restore;
And let them starve, just as they did before.
TO THE AUTHOR OF A COMPLIMENTARY EPITAPH ON DR. MEAD.
MEAD'S not dead then, you say; only sleeping a little;
Why egad, Sir, you've hit off there to a tittle.
Yet, friend, his awaking I very much doubt,
Pluto knows who he's got, and will ne'er let him out.
PORTRAITS OF PHETON AND DEUCA-
LION, BY AN INDIFFERENT PAINTER.
FROM THE GREEK.
MENESTRATUS, no doubt you deem
Your toils a due reward require:
I'll throw Deucalion in yon stream,
And fling your Phaeton in the fire.
ON A STATUE OF APOLLO CROWNING
MERIT.
MERIT, if thou art blest with riches,
For God's sake buy a pair of breeches,
And give them to thy naked brother;-
For one good turn deserves another.
MIDAS AND HIS OPPOSITES. MIDAS, they say, possess'd the art, of old, Of turning whatsoe'er he touch'd to gold. This modern statesmen can reverse with ease, Touch them with gold they'll turn to what you please.
ADDRESSED TO LADY MILLER,
ON THE URN AT BATH-EASTON.
MILLER, the urn in ancient times ('tis said)
Held the collected ashes of the dead;
So thine, the wonder of these modern days,
Stands open night and day for lifeless lays:
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