 | Poems on several subjects |  |
Said on WRITING.
There's nothing for writing, this world's so hard,
Excepting it be the d---l ha'ed for reward.
I dare not write satire, tho' in it there's wit,
And in this our age no subject's so fit.
Excepting it be the d---l ha'ed for reward.
I dare not write satire, tho' in it there's wit,
And in this our age no subject's so fit.
If I write on a country-man, anger breaks out;
He threatens to give me my bones in a clout.
Be it satire or praise, he foolishly swears,
That he will have none of my doggrel verse.
He threatens to give me my bones in a clout.
Be it satire or praise, he foolishly swears,
That he will have none of my doggrel verse.
And if on an Earl, a Lord, or a Knight,
They all turn critics, to judge if 'tis right.
Its faults soon appear, its beauty's conceal'd;
No more's for the author, except he's revil'd.
They all turn critics, to judge if 'tis right.
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No more's for the author, except he's revil'd.
And if on a groom that has manners and sense,
He gives me a bottle, my pen to compense.
So this is the fate of a poet that's bad;
Tho' more is expected, there is no more had.
He gives me a bottle, my pen to compense.
So this is the fate of a poet that's bad;
Tho' more is expected, there is no more had.
To write for diversion, no time I can spare;
So therefore such writing I had best forbear.
Yet sometimes, when fancy provokes me, I must
Write something, altho' my labour be lost.
So therefore such writing I had best forbear.
Yet sometimes, when fancy provokes me, I must
Write something, altho' my labour be lost.
| Poems on several subjects | |