 | Poems By John Hall |  |
43
On M. W. the great eater.
Sir much good do't ye; were your table butPie-crust or cheese, you might your stomack shut
After your slice of beef, what dare you try
Your force on an Ell-square of pudding-pie?
Perhaps 't may be a tast, three such as you
Unbreakfasted might sterve Seraglio:
When Hanniball scal'd th'Alpes, hadst thou been there
Thy beef had drunk up all his Vineger:
Well mightst thou be of guard to Henry th'eight,
Since thou canst like a pigeon eat thy weight:
Full wise was nature that would not bestow
These Tusks of thine into a double row;
What womb could ere contain thee, thou canst shut
A pond or Aviary in a Gut.
Had not thy mother born thee toothlesse, thou
Hadst eaten Viper-like a passage through;
Had he that wish'd the Cranes long neck to eat,
Put in thy stomack too 't had been compleat.
Thou Noah's Ark, dead sea, thou Golgotha,
Monster, beyond all them of Africa!
44
Great birds feed on the lesser, thou on all:
Hath there been no mistake, why may 't not be
When Curtius leap't the Gulf, 'twas into thee.
Now wee'l believe that man of Chica could
Make pills of arrows, and the Boy that would
Chew onely stones, nor can we think it vain
That Boranetho eat up th'neighbouring plain.
Poore Erisicthon, that could onely feast
On one poore Girle in severall dishes drest,
Thou hast devour'd as many sheep, as may
Cloath all the pasture in Arcadia.
Yet O how temperate, that ne're goes on
So farre as to approach repletion!
Thou breathing Cauldron, whose digestive heat
Might boyl the whole provision of the Fleet!
Say grace as long as meales, and if thou please,
Break fast with Ilands and drink healths with seas.
| Poems By John Hall | |