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Occasional Poems

Translations, Fables, Tales, &c. By William Somervile
Somerville, William (1675-1742)
  
[epigraph]

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AN ODE, Humbly Inscrib'd to his Grace The Duke of Marlborough,
  
An ODE, Occasion'd by the Duke of Marlborough's Imbarking for Ostend, An. 1712.
  
To Mr. Addison,
  
An Imitation of the Ninth Ode of the Fourth Book of Horace.
  
To Doctor Mackenzie.
  
The WIFE.
  
In Memory of my Dear Friend, The late Reverend Mr. Moore.
  
EPITAPH
  
The HIP.
  
To a LADY,
  
Presenting to a Lady a White Rose and a Red, on the Tenth of June.
  
The Bowling-Green.
  
The Lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan.
  
To a young Lady, with the Iliad of Homer translated.
  
Hudibras and Milton reconciled.
  
Upon Miranda's leaving the Country.
  
To Phillis.
  
To the Right Honourable the Earl of HALIFAX,
  
A Song for the Lute.
  
The Coquet.
  
The Superannuated Lover.
  
Advice to the Ladies.
  
ANACREONTICK,
  
To a Discarded Toast.
  
The Perjured Mistress.
  
To a young Lady, who spent the Night in Tears, upon a Report that her Brother was to fight a Duel the next Morning.
  
To Doctor M--- reading Mathematicks.
  
From Martial. Epig. 47.
  
To a Gentleman, who married his Cast Mistress.
  
A Dainty New BALLAD:
  
Canidia's Epithalamium.
  
Hunting-Song.
  
A Translation of the Tenth Epistle in Horace.
  
The Miser's Speech:
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 I. 
FABLE I.
 II. 
FABLE II.
  
FABLE III.
  
FABLE IV.
  
FABLE V.
  
FABLE VI.
  
FABLE VII.
  
FABLE VIII.
 IX. 
FABLE IX.
 X. 
FABLE X.
 XI. 
FABLE XI.
  
FABLE XII.
 XIII. 
FABLE XIII.
collapse sectionXIV. 
FABLE XIV.
 I. 
CANTO I.
 II. 
CANTO II.
 III. 
CANTO III.
 IV. 
CANTO IV.
 V. 
CANTO V.
  
The Devil Outwitted:
  
The Officious Messenger:
  
The Inquisitive Bridegroom:
  
Bacchus Triumphant:
  
The Night-Walker Reclaim'd.
  
The Happy Disappointment:
  
A Padlock for the Mouth:
  
The Wise Builder.
  
The True Use of the Looking-Glass:
  
Mahomet Ali Beg: or, The Faithful Minister of State.
  
The Sweet-scented Miser.
  
The Incurious Bencher.
  
The Busy Indolent:
  
The Yeoman of Kent:
  
The Happy Lunatick:

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121

The Perjured Mistress.

From Horace, Epod. 15. ad Neæram.

'Twas Night, and Heav'n intent with all its Eyes
Gaz'd on the dear deceitful Maid;
A thousand pretty things she said,
A thousand artful Tricks she play'd,
From me, deluded me, her Falshood to disguise.
She clasp'd me in her soft encircling Arms,
She press'd her glowing Cheek to mine,
The clinging Ivy, or the curling Vine,
Did never yet so closely twine;
Who cou'd be Man, and bear the Lustre of her Charms?
122

And thus she swore: By all the Pow'rs above,
When Winter Storms shall cease to roar,
When Summer Suns shall shine no more,
When Wolves their Cruelty give o'er,
Neæra then, and not till then, shall cease to love.
Ah! false Neæra! perjur'd Fair! but know,
I have a Soul too great to bear
A Rival's proud insulting Air,
Another may be found as fair,
As fair, ungrateful Nymph! and far more just than you.
Should'st thou repent, and at my Feet be laid,
Dejected, penitent, forlorn,
And all thy former Follies mourn,
Thy proffer'd Passion I wou'd scorn:
The Gods shall do me right on that devoted Head.
123

And you, spruce Sir, who insolently gay,
Exulting laugh at my Disgrace,
Boast with vain Airs, and stiff Grimace,
Your large Estate, your handsome Face,
Proud of a fleeting Bliss, the Pageant of a Day:
You too shall soon repent this haughty Scorn;
When fickle as the Sea or Wind,
The Prostitute shall change her Mind,
To such another Coxcomb kind;
Then shall I clap my Wings, and triumph in my turn.
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