You shapeless nothing in a dish, And when I bend, retire, and shrink, O'erheard and check'd this idle talk. And your fine sense, he said, and yours, Deserves not, if so soon offended, Much to be pitied or commended. And as for you, my Lady Squeamish, 25 30 40 50 Should droop and wither where they grow, 59 THE YEARLY DISTRESS, OR TITHING TIME AT STOCK IN ESSEX. Verses addressed to a Country Clergyman, complaining of the disagreeableness of the day annually appointed for receiving the Dues at the Parsonage. 1 COME, ponder well, for 'tis no jest, To laugh it would be wrong; 2 This priest he merry is and blithe But oh it cuts him like a scythe, 3 He then is full of fright and fears, And long before the day appears, 4 For then the farmers come jog, jog, Each heart as heavy as a log, To make their payments good. 5 In sooth the sorrow of such days When he that takes and he that pays 6 Now all unwelcome at his gates 7 And well he may, for well he knows 8 So in they come each makes his leg, 9" And how does miss and madam do. The little boy and all?" "All tight and well. And how do you, Good Mr What-d'ye-call?" 10 The dinner comes, and down they sit ; Were e'er such hungry folk? There's little talking, and no wit ; 11 One wipes his nose upon his sleeve, Yet, not to give offence or grieve, 12 The punch goes round, and they are dull 13 At length the busy time begins, "Come, neighbours, we must wag. The money chinks, down drop their chins, 14 One talks of mildew and of frost, And one of pigs that he has lost 15 Quoth one, "A rarer man than you In pulpit none shall hear : 16 O why are farmers made so coarse, A kick, that scarce would move a horse, 17 Then let the boobies stay at home; Less trouble taking twice the sum SONNET, ADDRESSED TO HENRY COWPER, ESQ.1 On his emphatical and interesting Delivery of the Defence of Warren 1 COWPER, whose silver voice, task'd sometimes hard, Legends prolix delivers in the ears (Attentive when thou read'st) of England's peers, Let verse at length yield thee thy just reward. 2 Thou wast not heard with drowsy disregard, 3 Thou art not voice alone, but hast beside Both heart and head; and couldst with music swect Like thy renown'd forefathers, far and wide Henry Cowper, Esq.,' Clerk of the Lords. See Macaulay's Warren Hastings.' END OF VOL I. BALLANTYNE, PRINTER, EDINBURGIL |