_Grange_, a farmstead.
1004. LEPROSY IN HOUSES.
When to a house I come, and see The Genius wasteful, more than free: The servants thumbless, yet to eat With lawless tooth the flour of wheat: The sons to suck the milk of kine, More than the teats of discipline: The daughters wild and loose in dress, Their cheeks unstained with shamefac"dness: The husband drunk, the wife to be A bawd to incivility; I must confess, I there descry, A house spread through with leprosy.
_Thumbless_, lazy: cp. painful thumb, _supra_.
1005. GOOD MANNERS AT MEAT.
This rule of manners I will teach my guests: To come with their own bellies unto feasts; Not to eat equal portions, but to rise Farced with the food that may themselves suffice.
_Farced_, stuffed.
1006. ANTHEA"S RETRACTATION.
Anthea laugh"d, and fearing lest excess Might stretch the cords of civil comeliness, She with a dainty blush rebuk"d her face, And call"d each line back to his rule and s.p.a.ce.
1007. COMFORTS IN CROSSES.
Be not dismayed though crosses cast thee down; Thy fall is but the rising to a crown.
1008. SEEK AND FIND.
_Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt; Nothing"s so hard but search will find it out._
1009. REST.
On with thy work, though thou be"st hardly press"d: _Labour is held up by the hope of rest_.
1010. LEPROSY IN CLOTHES.
When flowing garments I behold Inspir"d with purple, pearl and gold, I think no other, but I see In them a glorious leprosy That does infect and make the rent More mortal in the vestiment.
_As flowery vestures do descry The wearer"s rich immodesty: So plain and simple clothes do show Where virtue walks, not those that flow._
1012. GREAT MALADIES, LONG MEDICINES.
_To an old sore a long cure must go on: Great faults require great satisfaction._
1013. HIS ANSWER TO A FRIEND.
You ask me what I do, and how I live?
And, n.o.ble friend, this answer I must give: Drooping, I draw on to the vaults of death, O"er which you"ll walk, when I am laid beneath.
1014. THE BEGGAR.
Shall I a daily beggar be, For love"s sake asking alms of thee?
Still shall I crave, and never get A hope of my desired bit?
Ah, cruel maids! I"ll go my way, Whereas, perchance, my fortunes may Find out a threshold or a door That may far sooner speed the poor: Where thrice we knock, and none will hear, Cold comfort still I"m sure lives there.
1015. b.a.s.t.a.r.dS.
Our b.a.s.t.a.r.d children are but like to plate Made by the coiners--illegitimate.
1016. HIS CHANGE.
My many cares and much distress Has made me like a wilderness; Or, discompos"d, I"m like a rude And all confused mult.i.tude: Out of my comely manners worn, And, as in means, in mind all torn.
1017. THE VISION.
Methought I saw, as I did dream in bed, A crawling vine about Anacreon"s head.
Flushed was his face; his hairs with oil did shine; And, as he spake, his mouth ran o"er with wine.
Tippled he was, and tippling lisped withal; And lisping reeled, and reeling like to fall.
A young enchantress close by him did stand, Tapping his plump thighs with a myrtle wand: She smil"d; he kiss"d; and kissing, cull"d her too, And being cup-shot, more he could not do.
For which, methought, in pretty anger she s.n.a.t.c.hed off his crown, and gave the wreath to me; Since when, methinks, my brains about do swim, And I am wild and wanton like to him.
_Cull"d_, embraced.
_Cup-shot_, drunk.
1018. A VOW TO VENUS.
Happily I had a sight Of my dearest dear last night; Make her this day smile on me, And I"ll roses give to thee.
1019. ON HIS BOOK.
The bound, almost, now of my book I see, But yet no end of these therein, or me: Here we begin new life, while thousands quite Are lost, and theirs, in everlasting night.
1020. A SONNET OF PERILLA.
Then did I live when I did see Perilla smile on none but me.
But, ah! by stars malignant crossed, The life I got I quickly lost; But yet a way there doth remain For me embalm"d to live again, And that"s to love me; in which state I"ll live as one regenerate.