 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
177
A Familiar Epistle, TO Major Richardson Pack,
With the following PASTORAL.
While You, dear Pack, for Court and Camp prepar'd,
With equal Skill an Hero and a Bard!
Advent'rous thro' the crowded Alley press,
With Pains unwearied and deserv'd Success;
From the sweet Scene I live alas! afar,
At Jauncy's Angel without Temple Bar,
Destin'd to suffer Pennance for my Crimes,
By Jobbing only thro' a Maze of Rhimes:
A fruitless Game! A Game that none shou'd chuse,
Who wants a Coach, although he has a Muse.
With equal Skill an Hero and a Bard!
Advent'rous thro' the crowded Alley press,
With Pains unwearied and deserv'd Success;
From the sweet Scene I live alas! afar,
At Jauncy's Angel without Temple Bar,
178
By Jobbing only thro' a Maze of Rhimes:
A fruitless Game! A Game that none shou'd chuse,
Who wants a Coach, although he has a Muse.
Yet, Pardon, Sir, the Rudeness of a Friend,
His rural Lays at such a Time to send:
A Time, when nought shou'd be receiv'd or sent,
But Transfers, Permits, Bills, and Money lent:
And, when from Alley-Avocations free,
You leisure have to think of Verse and me,
(At least when driving homewards Debonair,
In London Chariot, or Parisian Chair.)
Deign to peruse 'em with a gracious Eye—
But hide, O hide the Blunders you descry:
For as your Approbation is my Fame,
The Town will damn my Labours, if You blame.
His rural Lays at such a Time to send:
A Time, when nought shou'd be receiv'd or sent,
But Transfers, Permits, Bills, and Money lent:
And, when from Alley-Avocations free,
You leisure have to think of Verse and me,
(At least when driving homewards Debonair,
In London Chariot, or Parisian Chair.)
Deign to peruse 'em with a gracious Eye—
But hide, O hide the Blunders you descry:
For as your Approbation is my Fame,
The Town will damn my Labours, if You blame.
August 2, 1720.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |