A Miscellany of Poems consisting of Original Poems, Translations, Pastorals in the Cumberland Dialect, Familiar Epistles, Fables, Songs, and Epigrams, by the late Reverend Josiah Relph ... With a Preface and a Glossary |
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To the Printer of the Kendal Courant.
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 | A Miscellany of Poems |  |
To the Printer of the Kendal Courant.
If, my dear friend, you ever aim,
That Kendal match Newcastle's fame,
And Cotton White's in printing News;
Then take advices from the Muse;
Advices more material, better
Than ought in Evening-Post or Letter:
Those only serve a single day;
But these for ever and for aye.
That Kendal match Newcastle's fame,
And Cotton White's in printing News;
Then take advices from the Muse;
Advices more material, better
Than ought in Evening-Post or Letter:
Those only serve a single day;
But these for ever and for aye.
Well then—in your Courant, my friend,
Propose a Poët's honest end;
Which, as your self in Horace may see,
Is delectare et prodesse:
And when you've got the goal in view,
Mindless of road march boldly thrô,
O'er hedge and ditch directly to't;
The road of truth is round about:
What! Counsel folks from truth to swerve?
Yes, honest Cotton, lye—or starve.
Propose a Poët's honest end;
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Is delectare et prodesse:
And when you've got the goal in view,
Mindless of road march boldly thrô,
O'er hedge and ditch directly to't;
The road of truth is round about:
What! Counsel folks from truth to swerve?
Yes, honest Cotton, lye—or starve.
In this too pattern take from Poëts,
Be your theme vary'd, as you know it's
In Pope, Steel, Prior; and beside in
The miscellaneous works of Dryden.
Be your theme vary'd, as you know it's
In Pope, Steel, Prior; and beside in
The miscellaneous works of Dryden.
Let a fine preface lead the way;
There suit the grave, or please the gay,
With Addison's instructive strain,
Or Swift's satyric hum'rous vein,
Or wou'd you every heart engage,
Let S---ds lines adorn the page.
There suit the grave, or please the gay,
With Addison's instructive strain,
Or Swift's satyric hum'rous vein,
Or wou'd you every heart engage,
Let S---ds lines adorn the page.
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Next place a song;—a gentle air
To speak the lover's pleasing care;
Or catch, in brisker measures to tell
The sprightly joys of friend and bottle.
To speak the lover's pleasing care;
Or catch, in brisker measures to tell
The sprightly joys of friend and bottle.
Then to Heroics raise the stile;
Put bustling Europe in a broil;
Make French, Dutch, Spaniards, Germans, battle,
Guns flash, swords clash and cannons rattle;
Till Britain's King bid discord cease,
And frown the tumult into peace.
Put bustling Europe in a broil;
Make French, Dutch, Spaniards, Germans, battle,
Guns flash, swords clash and cannons rattle;
Till Britain's King bid discord cease,
And frown the tumult into peace.
A Pastoral shou'd follow these;
Shew us the price of Beans and Pease,
Of Oats, of Wheat, of Rye, of Barly
And if the season's back or early.
Shew us the price of Beans and Pease,
Of Oats, of Wheat, of Rye, of Barly
And if the season's back or early.
(But by the by, be sure ne'er smatter
In politicks and party-satyr;
No, ne'er turn factious snarling dog,
Warned by the fate of Mist and Fog.)
In politicks and party-satyr;
No, ne'er turn factious snarling dog,
Warned by the fate of Mist and Fog.)
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Now some sad Elegy present;
A death or dismal accident
In sweetly-sorrowing lines relate;
Oh hapless, hapless human state!
A death or dismal accident
In sweetly-sorrowing lines relate;
Oh hapless, hapless human state!
Lastly, dear Cotton (to conclude,
And send us off in merry mood)
Some entertaining tale devise;
Examples plenty meet your eyes
In authors mentioned hard before,
As Ladle, Miller; forty more:
Or tell us such (for faith they look well)
As onee you told of Mouse and Cockle.
And send us off in merry mood)
Some entertaining tale devise;
Examples plenty meet your eyes
In authors mentioned hard before,
As Ladle, Miller; forty more:
Or tell us such (for faith they look well)
As onee you told of Mouse and Cockle.
Then while (if Poëts can divine,
And if a Poët's name be mine)
While Politicians shall peruse
With dram or penny-pot the News;
So long shall all of Cotton tell,
The man who writ Courants so well.
And if a Poët's name be mine)
While Politicians shall peruse
With dram or penny-pot the News;
So long shall all of Cotton tell,
The man who writ Courants so well.
Yours---
| A Miscellany of Poems | |