The Time too precious now to wafte,
And Supper gobbled up in hafte,
Again a-fresh to Cards they run,
As if they had but just begun.
Yet fhall I not again repeat

How oft they Squabble, Snarl and Cheat;
At laft they hear the Watchman knock,
A Frofty Morn Paft Four a-Clock.
The Chairmen are not to be found, ̈*
"Come, let us play the t'other Round.

Now, all in hafte they huddle on

Their Hoods, their Cloaks, and get them gone ;
But first the Winner must invite
The Company to-morrow Night.

Unlucky Madam left in Tears,
(Who now again Quadrill forfwears)
With empty Purse, and aching Head,
Steels to her fleeping Spouse to Bed.

The COUNTRY LIFE.

HALIA tell, in fober Lays,

THA

How George, Nim, Dan, Dean pals their Days. Begin, my Mufe; Firft from our Bow'rs

We iffue forth at diff'rent Hours';

At

At feven, the Dean in Night-gown dreft,
Goes round the Houfe to wake the reft;
At nine, grave Nim and George facetious

Go to the Dean to read Lucretius o vrha d
At ten, my Lady comes and hectors,

And kifles George, and ends our Lectures, for
And when she has him by the Neck faft,
Hauls him, and fcolds us down to Break faft.

We fquander there an Hour or more,
And then all Hands, Boys, to the Oar,
All, Heteroctil Dan except,
Who neither Time, nor Order kept,
But by peculiar Whimfies drawn,
Peeps in the Ponds to look for Spawn.
O'erfees the Work, or Dragon rows,

*

Or foils a Text, or mends his Hofe ;.
Or --but proceed we in our Journal
At two, or after, we return all.

From the four Elements affembling,

Warn'd by the Bell, all Folks come trembling;

From airy Garrets fome defcend,

Some from the Lake's remoteft End:

My Lord and Dean the Fire forfake,

Dan leayes the Earthly Spade and Rake:
The Loit'rers quake, no Corner hides them,
And Lady Betty foundly chides them.

My Lord's Boat.

Q 2

Now

Now Water's brought and Dinner's done :
With Church and King the Lady's gone:
(Not reck'ning half an Hour we pass
In talking o'er a moderate Glass.)
Dan, growing drowsy like a Thief,
Steals off to dofe away his Beef,

And this must pass for reading Hammond'
While George and Dean go to Back-Gammon.
George, Nim, and Dean fet out at four,
And then again, Boys, to the Oar.
But when the Sun goes to the Deep,
(Not to disturb him in his Sleep,
Or make a Rumbling o'er his Head,
His Candle out, and He a-bed)
We watch his Motions to a Minute,
And leave the Flood, when he goes in it,
Now ftinted in the fhortning Day,
We go to Pray'rs, and then to play:
Till Supper comes, and after that,
We fit an Hour to drink and chat.

'Tis late

the old and

Pairs,

younger
By Adam lighted, walks up Stairs.
The weary Dean goes to his Chamber,
And Nim and Dan to Garret clamber.
So when the Circle we have run,
The Curtain falls, and we have done.

*The Footman.

I might

I might have mention'd fev'ral Facts,
Like Episodes between the Acts;
And tell who lofes, and who wins,
Who gets a Cold, who breaks his Shins;
How Dan caught nothing in his Net,
And how the Boat was over-fet;
For Brevity I have retrench'd

How in the Lake the Dean was drench'd:
It would be an Exploit to brag on,
How valiant George rode o'er the Dragon,
How fteddy in the Stern he fat,

And fav'd his Oar, but loft his Hat:

How Nim (no Hunter e'er could match him,)
Still brings us Hares when he can catch 'em :
How skilfully Dan mends his Nets;
How Fortune fails him when he fets.
Or how the Dean delights to vex
The Ladies, or lampoon the Sex:
Or how our Neighbour lifts his Nofe
To tell what ev'ry School-boy knows,..
Then with his Finger on his Thumb
Explaining, ftrikes
Oppofures dumb:
Or how his Wife, that Female Pedant,
(But now there need no more be faid on't.)
Shews all her Secrets of Houfe-keeping;
For Candles how the trucks her Dripping:
Was forc'd to fend three Miles for Yeft
To brew her Ale, and raise her Paste ;
Q3

Tells

Tells ev'ry thing that you can think of,
How the cur'd Tommy of the Chin-cough
What gave her Brats and Pigs the Meazles,
And how her Daves were kill'd by Wheezles ;
How Jowler howl'd, and what a Fright
She had with Dreams the other Night.

But now, fince I have gone fo far on,
A Word or two of Lord Chief Baron;
And tell how little Weight he fets
On all Whig Papers, and Gazetts;
But for the Politicks of Pue"
Thinks ev'ry Syllable is true.

And fince he owns the King of Sweden
Is dead at laft, without evading,

Now all his Hopes are in the Czar ;
Why, Muscovy is not fo far,

"Down the Black Sea and up the Streights,
And in a Month he's at your Gates;

66

86

Perhaps from what the Packet brings
By Christmas we fhall fee ftrange things.
Why fhould I tell of Ponds and Drains,
What Carps we met with for our Pains ;
Of Sparrows tam'd, and Nuts innumerable
To choak the Girls, and to confume-a-Rabble.
But you; who are a Scholar, know
How tranfient are all things below,

*A News-Writer.

How