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MISCELLANIES

IN

VERSE

BY MR POPE, DR ARBUTHNOT, MR GAY, &c.

COLLECTED BY DR SWIFT AND MR POPE.

1727.

IMITATIONS OF ENGLISH POETS.

BY

MR POPE, IN HIS YOUTH.

I. CHAUCER.

A TALE, LATELY FOUND IN AN OLD

MANUSCRIPT.

WOMEN, though nat sans leacherie,

Ne swinken but with secrecie:
This in our tale is plain y-fond,
Of clerk that wonneth in Irelond;
Which to the fennes hath him betake
To filch the gray ducke fro the lake.
Right then ther passen by the way
His aunt, and eke her daughters tway:
Ducke in his trowzes hath he hent,
Not to be spied of ladies gent.
"But ho! our nephew," crieth one;
"Ho!" quoth another, "couzen John !"
And stoppen, and lough, and callen out.-
This sely clerk full low doth lout.
They asken that and talken this,
"Lo here is coz, and here is miss."
But, as he gloz'd with speeches soote,
The ducks sore tickleth his erse root:

Fore-piece and buttons all to-brest,
Forth thrust a white neck and red crest.
"Te-he," cried ladies; clerke nought spake;
Miss star'd; and gray ducke crieth "quaake."
"O moder, moder," quoth the daughter,
"Be thilke same thing maids longen a'ter?
Bette is to pyne on coals and chalke,
Then trust on mon, whose yerde can talke."

II. SPENSER.

THE ALLEY.

I.

In ev'ry town where Thamis rolls his tide,
A narrow pass there is, with houses low;
Where ever and anon the stream is eyed,
And many a boat soft sliding to and fro:
There oft are heard the notes of infant woe,
The short thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall:
How can ye, mothers, vex your children so;
Some play, some eat, some cack against the wall,
And, as they crouchen low, for bread and butter call.

II.

And on the broken pavement here and there
Doth many a stinking sprat and herring lie;
A brandy and tobacco shop is near,

And hens, and dogs, and hogs, are feeding by:
And here a sailor's jacket hangs to dry;
At every door are sun-burnt matrons seen,
Mending old nets to catch the scaly fry;

Now singing shrill, and scolding oft between; Scolds answer foul-mouth'd scolds; bad neighbourhood, I ween.

III.

The snappish cur (the passenger's annoy)
Close at my heel with yelping treble flies :
The whimpering girl and hoarser screaming boy
Join to the yelping treble shrilling cries;
The scolding quean to louder notes doth rise,
And her full pipes those shrilling cries confound;
To her full pipes the grunting hog replies;
The grunting hogs alarm the neighbours round,
And curs, girls, boys, and scolds, in the deep base
are drown'd.

IV.

Hard by a sty, beneath a roof of thatch,
Dwelt Obloquy, who in her early days,
Baskets of fish at Billingsgate did watch,

Cod, whiting, oyster, mackrel, sprat or plaice:
There learn'd she speech from tongues that never

cease.

Slander beside her, like a magpie chatters,

With Envy (spitting cat) dread foe to peace; Like a curs'd cur, Malice before her clatters, And, vexing, ev'ry wight, tears clothes and all to

tatters.

ས.

Her dugs were mark'd by ev'ry collier's hand,
Her mouth was black as bulldog's at the stall:
She scratched, bit, and spar'd ne lace ne band:
And bitch and rogue her answer was to all;

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