University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The Works of Peter Pindar [i.e. John Wolcot]

... With a Copious Index. To which is prefixed Some Account of his Life. In Four Volumes

expand sectionI. 
collapse sectionII. 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
collapse section 
  
expand section 
collapse section 
expand section 
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
collapse section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
expand section 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 

ODE XIV.

Peter attacketh the Exotic R. A.'s

Ye royal sirs! before I bid adieu,—
Let me inform you, some deserve my praise:
But trust me, gentle 'squires, ye are but few
Whose names would not disgrace my lays:
You'll say, with grinning sharp sarcastic face,
‘We must be bad indeed, if that's the case’—
Why, if the truth I must declare,
So, gentle 'squires, you really are.
I'm greatly pleas'd, I must allow,
To see the foreigners beat hollow;
Who stole into that dome the Lord knows how:
I hope to God no more will follow:
Who, curs'd with a poor sniv'ling spirit,
Were never known to vote for merit—
Poor narrow-minded imps,
Hanging together just like shrimps.
I own (so little they have merited)
That from yon noble dome,
Made almost an Italian and French home,
I long to see the vermin ferreted.

123

Yet where's the house, however watch'd by cats,
That can get rid of all its rats?
Or, if a prettier simile may please,
Where is the bed that has no fleas?
Or if a prettier still—what London rugs
Have not at times been visited by bugs?
 

The Royal Academy.