The works of Mr. Thomas Brown Serious and Comical, In Prose and Verse; In four volumes. The Fourth Edition, Corrected, and much Enlarged from his Originals never before publish'd. With a key to all his Writings |
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The PREFACE.
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 | The works of Mr. Thomas Brown |  |
The PREFACE.
Without formal PetitionThus stands my Condition,
I am closely block'd up in a Garret,
Where I scribble and smoak,
And sadly invoke
The powerful assistance of CLARET.
Four Children and a Wife,
'Tis hard on my Life,
Beside my self and a Muse,
To be all cloath'd and fed,
Now the Times are so dead,
By my scribbling of Dogg'rel and News.
And what I shall do,
I'm a Wretch if I know,
So hard is the Fate of a Poet;
I must either turn Rogue,
Or, what's as bad Pedagogue,
And so drudge like a Thing that has no Wit.
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Attended by Bums,
And my Landlady too she's a Teazer,
At least four times a day
She warns me away,
And what can a Man do to please her?
Here's the Victualler and Vintner,
The Cook and the Printer
With their Myrmidons hovering about, Sir.
The Taylor and Draper,
With the Cur that sells Paper,
That in short I dare not stir out, Sir.
But my Books sure may go,
My Master Ovid's did so,
And tell how doleful the Case is;
If it don't move your Pity
To make short of my Ditty,
'Twill serve you to wipe your Arses.
| The works of Mr. Thomas Brown | |