THE GIFT. TO IRIS, IN BOW STREET, COVENT GARDEN.1 SAY, cruel Iris, pretty rake, Dear mercenary beauty, What annual offering shall I make My heart, a victim to thine eyes, Say, would the angry fair one prize A bill, a jewel, watch, or toy, I'll give but not the full-blown rose, - Or rosebud, more in fashion; Such short-liv'd offerings but disclose A transitory passion. 1 See The Bee, No. ii. I'll give thee something yet unpaid, I'll give theeah! too charming maid, 2 This poem is taken from Ménagiana, vol. iv. 200. 'ETRENNE À IRIS. • POUR témoignage de ma flamme, Je vous donne-Ah! le puis-je dire? Fussiez-vous cent fois plus aimable, Belle Iris, je vous donne au diable.' A DESCRIPTION OF AN AUTHOR'S WHERE the Red Lion, staring o'er the way, Invites each passing stranger that can pay; Where Calvert's butt, and Parson's black cham pagne, Regale the drabs and bloods of Drury-lane; 1 First printed in The Citizen of the World, Letter xxx., and afterwards inserted, with a few variations, in The Deserted Village, 1770.-P. C. [See, post, the extract from a letter to the Rev. Henry Goldsmith.] 2 Viz: "1. Urge no healths; 2. Profane no divine ordinances; 3. Touch no state matters; 4. Reveal no secrets; 5. Pick no quarrels; 6. Make no comparisons; 7. Maintain no ill opinions; 8. Keep no bad company; 9. Encourage no vice; 10. Make no long meals; 11. Repeat no grievances. 12. Lay no wagers."-P. C. The seasons, fram'd with listing, found a place, And brave prince William show'd his lampblack face. The morn was cold; he views with keen desire The rusty grate unconscious of a fire: With beer and milk arrears the frieze was scor'd, And five crack'd teacups dress'd the chimney board; A nightcap deck'd his brows instead of bay, A cap by night,-a stocking all the day! 8 William, Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden, d. 1765.-P. C. EPITAPH ON DR. PARNELL.1 THIS tomb inscrib'd to gentle Parnell's name, The transitory breath of fame below: EPITAPH ON EDWARD PURDON.2 HERE lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed, He led such a damnable life in this world, 1 From The Haunch of Venison, &c. 1776.-P. C. 2 This gentleman was educated at Trinity College, Dublin; but, having wasted his patrimony, he enlisted as a foot soldier. Growing tired of that employment, he obtained his discharge, and became a scribbler in the newspapers. [This epitaph is an imitation of the French, (La Mort du Sieur Etienne,) or of an epigram in Swift's Miscellanies, xiii. 372.-FORSTER.] |