Barleymow And Dunghill.

        How many saucy beaux we meet
        'Twixt Westminster and Aldgate-street!
        Rascals - the mushrooms of a day,
        Who sprung and shared the South Sea prey,
        Nor in their zenith condescend
        To own or know the humble friend.

        A careful farmer took his way
        Across his yard at break of day:
        He leant a moment o'er the rail,
        To hear the music of the flail;
        In his quick eye he viewed his stock, -
        The geese, the hogs, the fleecy flock.

        A barleymow there, fat as mutton,
        Then held her master by the button:
        "Master, my heart and soul are wrung - till
        They can't abide that dirty dunghill:
        Master, you know I make your beer -
        You boast of me at Christmas cheer;
        Then why insult me and disgrace me,
        And next to that vile dunghill place me?
        By Jove! it gives my nose offence:
        Command the hinds to cart it hence."

        "You stupid Barleymow," said Dunghill;
        "You talk about your heart and wrung-ill:
        Where would you be, I'd like to know,
        Had I not fed and made you grow?
        You of October brew brag - pshaw!
        You would have been a husk of straw.
        And now, instead of gratitude,
        You rail in this ungrateful mood."

John Gay

John Gay was an English poet and dramatist of the early 18th century. He is best remembered for 'The Beggar's Opera' (1728), a ballad opera that satirized the contemporary government and society of England. Gay was a member of the Scriblerus Club, alongside notable writers like Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. Despite facing financial difficulties, his work remains influential in the landscape of English literature.

John Gay

Rose And Poet.

John Gay, Simple Poetry

Squire And Cur.

John Gay, Simple Poetry

The Two Monkeys.

John Gay, Simple Poetry

Cupid, Hymen, And Plutus.

John Gay, Simple Poetry

English

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The Spaniel And Chameleon.

        A spaniel mightily well bred,
        Ne'er taught to labour for his bread,
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        The wind was soft, the morning fair,
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        "Friend," said the syc...

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The Raven, Sexton, And Worm.

        (To Laura.)


        My Laura, your rebukes are prudish;
        For although flattery is rudish,
        Yet deference, not more than just,
        May be received without disgust.
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        And are you, fair and feminine,
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The Two Monkeys.

        The scholar, of his learning vain,
        Beholds the fop with deep disdain:
        The fop, with spirit as discerning,
        Looks down upon the man of learning.
        The Spanish Don - a solemn strutter -
        Despises Gallic airs and flutter:
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        On manners both of France and Spain:
        They hold, indeed, a deed tripartite
        To see each other in a tart light.
        'Tis thus the bard is scorned by those
        Who only deal in learned prose:
        Whilst bards of quick imagination
        Are hipped by the dull prose oration.
        Men scoff at apes: apes scoff at them;
        And all - except themselves - contemn.

     ...

John Gay

Ape And Poultry.

        Esteem is frequently misplaced,
        Where she may even stand disgraced;
        We must allow to wealth and birth
        Precedence, which is due on earth:
        But our esteem is only due
        Unto the worth of man and virtue.

        Around an ancient pedigree
        There is a halo fair to see,
        With "unwrung withers" we afford
        Our salutation to milord,
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        Albeit his lordship be a chouse.
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        Often recalcitrant to ill:
        And yet the mob will stand and gaze
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        But worst of all the lot, w...

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Copy Of The Birth-Day Verses

ON MR. FORD[1]


Come, be content, since out it must,
For Stella has betray'd her trust;
And, whispering, charged me not to say
That Mr. Ford was born to-day;
Or, if at last I needs must blab it,
According to my usual habit,
She bid me, with a serious face,
Be sure conceal the time and place;
And not my compliment to spoil,
By calling this your native soil;
Or vex the ladies, when they knew
That you are turning forty-two:
But, if these topics shall appear
Strong arguments to keep you here,
I think, though you judge hardly of it,
Good manners must give place to profit.
    The nymphs, with whom you first began,
Are each become a harridan;
And Montague so far decay'd,
Her lovers now must all be paid;
And every belle that since ...

Jonathan Swift

The 'Squire At Vauxhall.

Nothing so idle as to waste
This Life disputing upon Taste;
And most--let that sad Truth be written--
In this contentious Land of Britain,
Where each one holds "it seems to me"
Equivalent to Q. E. D.,
And if you dare to doubt his Word
Proclaims you Blockhead and absurd.
And then, too often, the Debate
Is not 'twixt First and Second-rate,
Some narrow Issue, where a Touch
Of more or less can't matter much,
But, and this makes the Case so sad,
Betwixt undoubted Good and Bad.
Nay,--there are some so strangely wrought,--
So warped and twisted in their Thought,--
That, if the Fact be but confest,
They like the baser Thing the best.
Take BOTTOM, who for one, 'tis clear,
Possessed a "reasonable Ear;"
He might have had at his Command
The Sympho...

Henry Austin Dobson