The Poems of Charles Sackville Sixth Earl of Dorset: Edited by Brice Harris |
 | I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
 | VII. |
 | The Poems of Charles Sackville |  |
97
Pindaric Petition to the Lords in Council
99
Should you order Tom Brown
To be whip'd about town
For a scurvy lampoon,
Grave Southern and Crown,
Their pens wou'd lay down.
Even Durfey himself and such merry fellows
That put their whole trust in tunes and trangdilloes
May hang up their harps and themselves on the willows,
For if poets are punish'd for libelling trash,
John Dryden at sixty may yet fear the lash.
No pension nor praise,
Much birch without bays,
These are not the right ways
Our fancies to raise
To the writing of plays,
And prologues so witty,
That jerk at the city,
And now and then hit
Some spark in the pit
So hard and so pat
'Till he hides with his hat
His monstrous cravat.
The pulpit alone
Can never preach down
The fops of this town.
Then pardon Tom Brown,
And let him write on.
But if you had rather convert the poor sinner,
His foul, railing mouth may be stop'd with a dinner.
Give him clothes to his back, some meat, and much drink,
100
And your petitioner shall never pray, write, nor think.
| The Poems of Charles Sackville | |