EPIGRAM. PRINTED IN THE NORTHAMPTON MERCURY. To purify their wine some people bleed Now lambs and negroes both are harmless things, And thence perhaps this wondrous virtue springs, 'Tis in the blood of innocence alone Good cause why planters never try their own. TO DR. AUSTIN, OF CECIL STREET, LONDON. I would not recompense his art with less, And boldly call thee, being his, my own. CATHARINA: THE SECOND PART: ON HER MARRIAGE TO GEORGE BELIEVE it or not, as you choose, And poets are oracles too. I did but express a desire To see Catharina at home, At the side of my friend George's fire, Such prophecy some may despise, Maria1 would leave us, I knew, To the grief and regret of us all, But less to our grief, could we view Catharina the Queen of the Hall. 1 Lady Throckmorton. And therefore I wish'd as I did, And therefore this union of hands Not a whisper was heard to forbid, But all cry-Amen—to the banns. Since, therefore, I seem to incur No danger of wishing in vain When making good wishes for her, I will e'en to my wishes againWith one I have made her a wife, And now I will try with another, Which I cannot suppress for my life life How soon I can make her a mother. EPITAPH ON FOP, A DOG BELONGING TO LADY THROCKMORTON. THOUGH once a puppy, and though Fop by name, [claim. Here moulders one whose bones some honour No sycophant, although of spaniel race, And though no hound, a martyr to the chase— Ye squirrels, rabbits, leverets, rejoice, He died worn out with vain pursuit of you. "Yes," the indignant shade of Fop replies"And worn with vain pursuit man also dies." August, 1792. SONNET TO GEORGE ROMNEY, ESQ. ON HIS PICTURE OF ME IN CRAYONS, DRAWN AT EARTHAM IN THE 61ST YEAR OF MY AGE, AND IN THE MONTHS OF AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 1792. ROMNEY, expert infallibly to trace On chart or canvas, not the form alone Since, on maturer thought, the cause is clear; For in my looks what sorrow couldst thou see When I was Hayley's guest, and sat to thee? October, 1792. MARY AND JOHN. IF John marries Mary, and Mary alone, 'Tis a very good match between Mary and John. Should John wed a score, Oh, the claws and the scratches! It can't be a match:-'tis a bundle of matches. EPITAPH ON MR. CHESTER, OF CHICHELEY. TEARS flow, and cease not, where the good man lies, Till all who knew him follow to the skies. Tears therefore fall where Chester's ashes sleep; Him wife, friends, brothers, children, servants, weep And justly—few shall ever him transcend TO MY COUSIN, ANNE BODHAM, ON RECEIVING FROM HER A NETWORK PURSE, MADE BY HERSELF. My gentle Anne, whom heretofore, When I was young, and thou no more Than plaything for a nurse, I danced and fondled on my knee, I thank thee for my purse. Gold pays the worth of all things here; I, therefore, as a proof of love, |