THE POET S,

A TOWN E C LOGUE,

Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Mævi!
Atque idem jungat vulpes, & mulgeat hircos.

Tuesday, December 26, 1769..

VIRGIL.

WHERE Hackney Ladies take their nightly

stand,

And Cath'rine Street runs foul into the Strand,
K—ck, with felf-importance fwelling high,
Caught Ifaac B-ff's felonious eye :

Each fcowl'd awhile on each, and neither fpoke, 'Till Ifaac thus the fullen filence broke.

B. Is it thou, William?

K. William is my name.

Shakespeare was William call'd, and I the fame. His Name I bear, and bear his Talents too: Shakespeare drew Falftaff,-Falstaff K-ck drew;

Rais'd the Fat Knight by his creative brain,
And warm'd the Mummy into life again,

B. Thou vie with Shakespeare? Thou Supreme of Fools!

Thou Prince of Coxcombs! Maker of Brafs Rules! Whofe mind no Science lights, no Mufe infpires, But Hunger whets, Pride bloats, and Envy fires: Hence rumbling, grumbling, made of filth and noife, Thou fear'ft Old Women, Bookfellers, and Boys: Senfe ftops the nofe, Wit winks, and Fools admire, While-crack, fiz, bounce!-You in a flink expire. On Settle, Dennis, Durfey, graft thy Fame,

But blend not with thine own great Shakespeare's

Name!

Trouble the Ghoft of honeft Jack no further, Whom Shakespeare kill'd to flop his future murther!

K. What, if thefe glories tamely I refign,
Think, Ifaac B-ff, the fate of thine!
When good Queen Anna rul'd the British land,
Genius and B-ff went hand in hand :

Swift, Steele, and Addifon, then wore the name,
And made it known to Humour and to Fame.
But Time and Chance that William threw on me,
Have blafted Ifaac Bff in Thee!

Ол

On what bafe wretches names may fall at laft!
Oh how unlike the prefent and the past!
Still brewing thy Rhetorical Small-Beer,
Thou ferv'ft the Town a Kilderkin each year;
Feed'ft, like a Hog, upon Dramatick Grains;
And draw'ft the taplafh of another's brains.
Charles Johnfon, Parfon Miller, with a train
Of Playwrights long forgot in Drury Lane
See their laft dregs into the Mash-tub caft,
To work up Village Loves, and ftrengthen Dr. Laft.

;

More and much more the warring Poets faid, When Griffin iffued forth from Garrick's Head. End, end your Strife, he cried; come in, and dine! Mince-pyes invite, plump Turkey, and fat Chine. On Johnfon, Goldfmith, Reynolds, vent your rage; Attack the Arts, Church, Army, Bar or Stage! Join in the Cheer a merry Christmas fends, Write Grub-street Chronicles, and live good Friends!

AN

EXTEMPORE,

1

ON SETTING OUT FOR BATH.

WH

Dec. 31, 1785.

WHAT! Palfy and Gout both at once on my back?

Alas, on a Dwarf what a Giant Attack!

Even comforts themselves as new plagues I endure, When the Palfy's my ill, and the Gout is my cure. Richmond, Dec. 19, 1785.

G. C.

८

A FRENCH MAXIM IN PROSE.

LA

February 11, 1786.

A Marriage eft une chose tres ferieuse; on ne peut pas trop penfer. Heureux celui qui pense toute

Ja vie!

IMITATED IN ENGLISH VERSE. "Wife, or No Wife?"-A ferious doubt indeed! We cannot pause too long ere we proceed : Thrice happy He, that ponders on a Wife, Who paufes long, and paufes all his Life!

EPIGRAM