 | [Poems by Drake in] The life and works of Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) |  |
284
[To Prince Croaker]
How is it, Hal, thy out-of-elbow spirit
Should throw thy liquid caustic in the air,
To fall and scorch the skins of men of merit,
And make all Gotham at thy dashes stare?
Does it become thee, thou apparent heir
To Pindar's loom for weaving frolic verse,
To take a fall with every dancing bear,
And draw upon thy head a regiment's curse?
Should throw thy liquid caustic in the air,
To fall and scorch the skins of men of merit,
And make all Gotham at thy dashes stare?
Does it become thee, thou apparent heir
To Pindar's loom for weaving frolic verse,
To take a fall with every dancing bear,
And draw upon thy head a regiment's curse?
Was it well done to place great Dr. Mitchill
Bare on the points of thy poetic hatchet—
Finding in folly's vesture ugly flaws
To make the Gothites ope their grinning jaws—
Merely because the learned doctor tries
To make a dinner out of whales and flies?
Thou reprobate! thou owest an apology
To this phlogobombas of our ichthyology.
Say, was thy prudence altogether fled,
When thou let'st loose that bull-dog verse of thine,
'Gainst that great poet and his cabbage head
Whose verse the learned Holly calls divine?
What's more (and this thy impudence enhances),
I'm well informed you sent a blistering-plaster
To clap upon the chops of Dr. Francis,
And ipecac and tartar for his master.
But Mr. Johnny, being orthodox,
Swore as he might, being in a wondrous fury,
He'd not be battering his razor upon blocks,
Or bring a broken head before a jury.
Bare on the points of thy poetic hatchet—
Finding in folly's vesture ugly flaws
To make the Gothites ope their grinning jaws—
Merely because the learned doctor tries
To make a dinner out of whales and flies?
Thou reprobate! thou owest an apology
To this phlogobombas of our ichthyology.
Say, was thy prudence altogether fled,
285
'Gainst that great poet and his cabbage head
Whose verse the learned Holly calls divine?
What's more (and this thy impudence enhances),
I'm well informed you sent a blistering-plaster
To clap upon the chops of Dr. Francis,
And ipecac and tartar for his master.
But Mr. Johnny, being orthodox,
Swore as he might, being in a wondrous fury,
He'd not be battering his razor upon blocks,
Or bring a broken head before a jury.
And that sky-rocket which of late you sent,
Filled with most villainous sarcastic matter,
To fire among the Peacock Regiment,
And gallant Colonel Murray to bespatter—
He'd see thee damned, howe'er thou might desire it,
Before he'd let his honest fleer fire it.
But go thy ways and give thy fancy play,
And, save through Coventry, I'll follow thee;
And when thou kill'st the Hotspur of the day,
I'll bear the body off and swear 'twas me.
Filled with most villainous sarcastic matter,
To fire among the Peacock Regiment,
And gallant Colonel Murray to bespatter—
He'd see thee damned, howe'er thou might desire it,
Before he'd let his honest fleer fire it.
But go thy ways and give thy fancy play,
And, save through Coventry, I'll follow thee;
And when thou kill'st the Hotspur of the day,
I'll bear the body off and swear 'twas me.
| [Poems by Drake in] The life and works of Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) | |