Thou still shalt be; still as thou wert before,

And know no change, when time shall be no more. [As a small drop in the wide ocean 's tost,

So time shall in eternity be lost.]1

O endless thought! divine eternity!

Th' immortal soul shares but a part of thee;
For thou wert present when our life began,
When the warm dust shot up in breathing man.

ΤΟ

Ah! what is life? with ills encompass'd round, 15
Amidst our hopes,2 Fate strikes the sudden wound :
To-day the statesman 3 of new honour dreams,
To-morrow death destroys his airy schemes;
Is mouldy treasure in thy chest confined?

Think all that treasure thou must leave behind; 4 20
Thy heir with smiles shall view thy blazon'd hearse,
And all thy hoards with lavish hand disperse.5
[Thy lovely wife resign her balmy breath,
And stiffen in the frozen arms of death.]"
Should certain fate th' impending blow delay,
Thy mirth will sicken and thy bloom decay;
Then feeble age will all thy nerves disarm,
No more thy blood 8 its narrow channels warm.

1 These lines occur only in the earliest version of the poem. 2 'Midst our vast hopes.' 3 Th' ambitious.'

4 'Does hoarded treasure moulder in thy chest?

Or art thou with a beauteous consort blest?' 5 Thy lavish heir shall soon thy wealth disperse, And with feign'd tears attend thy blazon'd hearse.' 6 This couplet finds a place in the earliest version only. 7 'Dreadful.'

8 'Nor can thy blood.'

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[Who would vain life on such conditions bear,
To groan beneath the load of fourscore year.]1
Who then would wish 2 to stretch this narrow span,
To suffer life beyond the date of man?

The virtuous soul pursues a nobler aim, And life regards but as a fleeting dream : She longs to wake and wishes to get free, To launch from earth into eternity.

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For while the boundless theme extends our thought,3 Ten thousand thousand rolling years are nought.

AN ELEGY ON A LAP-DOG

5

SHOCK's fate I mourn; poor Shock is now no more,
Ye Muses mourn, ye chamber-maids deplore.
Unhappy Shock! yet more unhappy Fair,
Doom'd to survive thy joy and only care!
Thy wretched fingers now no more shall deck,
And tie the fav'rite ribband round his neck;
No more thy hand shall smooth his glossy hair,
And comb the wavings of his pendent ear.
Yet cease thy flowing grief, forsaken maid;
All mortal pleasures in a moment fade :
Our surest hope is in an hour destroy'd,
And love, best gift of heav'n, not long enjoy'd.

1 This couplet is in the first version only.

2 'Or nearly wish.'

3 'For while to Thee she lifts her soaring thought.'

ΙΟ

Methinks I see her frantic with despair,

Her streaming eyes, wrung hands, and flowing hair; Her Mechlen pinners rent the floor bestrow,

And her torn fan gives real signs of woe.

Hence Superstition, that tormenting guest,

That haunts with fancied fears the coward breast;
No dread events upon this fate attend,

Stream eyes no more, no more thy tresses rend.
Tho' certain omens oft forewarn a state,

And dying lions show the monarch's fate;
Why should such fears bid Celia's sorrow rise;
For when a Lap-dog falls no lover dies.

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Cease, Celia, cease; restrain thy flowing tears, 25 Some warmer passion will dispel thy cares. In man you'll find a more substantial bliss, More grateful toying and a sweeter kiss.

He's dead. Oh lay him gently in the ground! And may his tomb be by this verse renown'd. Here Shock, the pride of all his kind, is laid; Who fawn'd like man, but ne'er like man betray'd.

A RECEIPT FOR STEWING

VEAL

TAKE a knuckle of veal,
You may buy it or steal.
In a few pieces cut it,
In a stewing pan put it.
Salt, pepper and mace,

Must season this knuckle;

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5

Put no Water at all

For it maketh things small,
Which, lest it should happen,
A close cover clap on,

Put this pot of Wood's metal 5
In a hot boiling kettle,

And there let it be

(Mark the doctrine I teach)
About,-let me see,—
Thrice as long as you preach.6
So skimming the fat off,
Say grace with your hat off.
Oh, then, with what rapture

Will it fill dean and chapter!

Gay appended the following explanatory notes to the piece, which was sent by him to Swift in September 1726 (Elwin's Pope's Works, vii. 80):—

1 'Vulgo Salary.'

2 'Supposed Sorrel.'

3 'This is by Dr. Bentley thought to be time or thyme.'

4 'Parsley.' See Chamberlayne.

5 of this composition see the works of the copper-farthing dean.

6 Which we suppose to be near four hours.

AY AND NO:

A FABLE

IN fable all things hold discourse;

Then words, no doubt, must talk of course.

Once on a time, near Channel Row,
Two hostile adverbs, Ay and No,
Were hast'ning to the field of fight,
And front to front stood opposite,
Before each general join'd the van,
Ay, the more courteous knight, began.

Stop, peevish particle, beware!
I'm told you are not such a bear,
But sometimes yield, when offer'd fair.
Suffer yon' folks awhile to tattle;
'Tis we who must decide the battle.
Whene'er we war on yonder stage,
With various fate, and equal rage,
The nation trembles at each blow
That No gives Ay, and Ay gives No ;
Yet in expensive long contention,
We gain nor office, grant, or pension.
Why then should kinsfolks quarrel thus ?
(For, two of you make one of us.)
To some wise statesman let us go,
Where each his proper use may knɔw.

ΙΟ

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