HORACE, BOOK II. ODE IV. IMITATED.

THE LORD GRIFFIN TO THE EARL OF

D

SCARSDALE.

I.

O not, moft fragrant earl, disclaim
Thy bright, thy reputable flame,
To Bracegirdle the brown;

But publicly espouse the dame,

And fay, G-- d--the town.
II.

Full many heroes, fierce and keen,
With drabs have deeply fmitten been,
Although right good commanders;
Some who with you have Hounflow feen,
And fome who've been in Flanders.

III.

Did not bafe Greber's * Pegg inflame
The fober earl of Nottingham,

Of fober fire defcended?

That, careless of his foul and fame,

To play-houses he nightly came,
And left church undefended.

IV.

The monarch who of France is hight,

Who rules the roaft with matchlefs might,

Since William went to heaven;

Loves Maintenon, his lady bright,

Who was but Scarron's leaving.

D4

Though

* Signora Francefco Marguareta de l'Epine, an

Italian fongftrefs.

V.

Though thy dear's father kept an inn
At grifly head of Saracen,

For carriers at Northampton;
Yet she might come of gentler kin,
Than e'er that father dreamt on..

VI.

Of proffers large her choice had the,
Of jewels, plate, and land in fee,
Which the with scorn rejected:
And can a nymph fo virtuous be
Of bafe-born blood fufpected?

VII.

Her dimple cheek, and roguish eye,.
Her flender wafte, and taper thigh,
I always thought provoking;
But, faith, though I talk waggishly,
I mean no more than joking.
VIII.

Then be not jealous, friend: for why
My lady marchioness is nigh,

To fee I ne'er fhould hurt ye;.
Befides, you know full well that I

Am turn'd of five-and-forty.

THE

THE RECONCILEMENT BETWEEN JACOB TONSON AND MR. CONGREVE.

AN IMITATION OF HORACE, BOOK III. ODE IX.

WE

TONSON.

HILE at my house in Fleet-street once you lay,
How merrily, dear Sir, time pass'd away?
While "I partook your wine, your wit, and mirth,
I was the happiest creature on God's yearth *.”
CONGRE VE.

While in your early days of reputation,
You for blue garters had not fuch a paffion;
While yet you did not use (as now your trade is)
To drink with noble lords, and toaft their ladies ;
Thou, Jacob Tonfon, wert to my conceiving,
The chearfulleft, beft, honeft fellow living.

TONSO N.

I'm in with captain Vanburgh at the prefent, A moft fweet-natur'd gentleman, and pleasant; He writes your comedies, draws fchemes, and models, And builds dukes houfes upon very odd hills:

For him, fo much I dote on him, that I,

If I was fure to go to heaven, would die.

CONGRE VE.

Temple † and Delaval are now my party, Men that are tam Mercurio both quam Marte;

*Tanfon (Sen.) his dialect.

And

Sir Richard Temple, afterwards lord Cobham,

And though for them I shall scarce go to heaven,
Yet I can drink with them fix nights in feven.

TONSO N.

What if from Van's dear arms I fhould retire,
And once more warm my *Bunnians at your fire;
If I to Bow-Street should invite you home,
And fet a bed up in my dining-room,

Tell me, dear Mr. Congreve, would you come ?
CONGRE VE.

Though the gay failor, and the gentle knight,
Were ten times more my joy and heart's delight,
Though civil perfons they, you ruder were,
And had more humours than a dancing-bear;
Yet for your fake I 'd bid them both adieu,
And live and die, dear Bob, with only you.

}

HORACE, BOOK III. ODE XXI.

H

TO HIS CASK.

I.

AIL, gentle Cafk, whofe venerable head

With hoary down and ancient duft o'er-spread, Proclaims, that since the vine first brought thee forth

Old age has added to thy worth.

Whether the fprightly juice thou dost contain,

Thy votaries will to wit and love,

Or fenfelefs noife and lewdnefs move,

Or fleep, the cure of these and every other pain.

* Jacob's term for his corns.

II. Since

II.

Since to fome day propitious and great,
Juftly at first thou was defign'd by fate;
This day, the happiest of thy many years,
With thee I will forget my cares:
To my Corvinus' health thou shalt go round,
(Since thou art ripen'd for to-day,

And longer age would bring decay)

Till every anxious thought in the rich stream be drown'd. III.

To thee my friend his roughness shall submit,

And Socrates himself a while forget.

Thus when old Cato would fometimes unbend
The rugged stiffness of his mind,

Stern and fevere, the Stoic quaff'd his bowl,
His frozen virtue felt the charm,

And foon grew pleas'd, and foon grew warm,

And blefs'd the sprightly power that chear'd his gloomy

foul.

IV.

With kind constraint ill-nature thou doft bend,

And mould the fnarling cynic to a friend.
The fage referv'd, and fam'd for gravity,

Finds all he knows fumm'd up in thee,

And by thy power unlock'd, grows eafy, gay, and free. The fwain, who did fome credulous nymph perfuade To grant him all, infpir'd by thee,

Devotes her to his vanity,

And to his fellow-fops toafts the abandon'd ́maid.

V.. The