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Mr. Cooke's Original Poems

with Imitations and Translations of Several Select Passages of the Antients, In Four Parts: To which are added Proposals For perfecting the English Language
Cooke, Thomas (1703-1756)

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[dedication]
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PART the First, CONTAINING ESSAYS, TALES, AND A RHAPSODY On Virtue and Pleasure.
  
AN ESSAY ON NOBILITY.
  
AN ESSAY ON THE Antient and Modern State of Great Britain, and on the Posture of Affairs in Europe in the Years 1734, and 1735.
  
THE KNIGHTS of the BATH, A TALE.
  
Philander and Cydippe, A TALE.
  
WILL. SOMERS, A TALE.
  
A RHAPSODY ON Virtue and Pleasure, TO JAMES REYNOLDS, Esq; Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
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PART the Second, CONTAINING EPISTLES, ODES, FABLES, SATIRES, LOVE-ELEGYS, PROLOGUES, EPILOGUES, and EPIGRAMS.
 1. 
EPISTLES the First, TO Mrs. COLSTON, On the Death of her only Son.
 2. 
EPISTLE the Second, TO Mr. LEONARD WELSTED, On the Death of his only Daughter.
 3. 
EPISTLE the Third, To the right honourable Thomas Earl of Pembroke at Wilton.
 4. 
EPISTLE the Fourth, To the honourable Lord George Johnston.
 5. 
EPISTLE the Fifth, To the right honourable Thomas Earl of Pembroke, Occasioned by The Death of Dr. Samuel Clarke.
 6. 
EPISTLE the Sixth, To the right reverend Dr. Benjamin Hoadley, On his being translated from the Bishoprick of Salisbury to Winchester.
 7. 
EPISTLE the Seventh, To his Grace The Duke of Somerset at Petworth.
 8. 
EPISTLE the Eighth, TO James Vernon Esq;
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ODES.
 1. 
ODE the First, TO Mr. John Mottley in the Country.
 2. 
ODE the Second, To Phillis.
 3. 
ODE the Third, To the Same.
 4. 
ODE the Fourth, To the Same.
 5. 
ODE the Fifth, To the Same.
 6. 
ODE the Sixth, To the Same.
 7. 
ODE the Seventh, To the Same.
 8. 
ODE the Eighth, To the Same.
 9. 
ODE the Ninth, To Celia.
 10. 
ODE the Tenth, To the Same.
 11. 
ODE the Eleventh, To Melissa.
 12. 
ODE the Twelfth, To the Same.
 13. 
ODE the Thirteenth. SYLVIA.
 14. 
ODE the Fourteenth. BELLAMIRA.
 15. 
ODE the Fifteenth. THALIA.
 16. 
ODE the Sixteenth. DINA.
 17. 
ODE the Seventeenth. LONDON.
 18. 
ODE the Eighteenth. ON THE Birth of Lord Herbert In the Year 1734.
 19. 
ODE the Nineteenth. A New Year's Ode, or Ballad, For the Year 1741.
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[FABLES.]
 1. 
FABLE the First. The Rose and the Lilly.
 2. 
FABLE the Second. The Ass.
 3. 
FABLE the Third. The Lark.
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[SATIRES.]
 1. 
SATIRE the First. Love and Old Age.
 2. 
SATIRE the Second. Love and Old Age.
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[ELEGIES.]
 1. 
ELEGY the First. On Retirement.
 2. 
ELEGY the Second. On the Same.
 3. 
ELEGY the Third. On seeing Bellamira's Picture.
 4. 
ELEGY the Fourth. To Bellamira.
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[PROLOGUES.]
 1. 
PROLOGUE the First. To Penelope, A Burlesque Opera, performed in the Year 1728.
 2. 
PROLOGUE the Second. Spoke on opening the new Theatre in the Hay-market with Dryden's Spanish Friar.
 3. 
PROLOGUE the Third. Spoke by Mr. Henry Giffard, on opening the new Theatre in Goodman's-Fields the 31st of October 1729.
 4. 
PROLOGUE the Fourth. TO LOVE and REVENGE,
 5. 
PROLOGUE the Fifth. To the Devil to pay,
 6. 
PROLOGUE the Sixth. Spoke by Mr. Milward to the Country Wife.
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[EPILOGUES.]
 1. 
EPILOGUE the First. Spoke by Mrs. Younger in the Character of the Country Wife.
 2. 
EPILOGUE the Second. To Penelope, Spoke by Minerva.
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[EPIGRAMS.]
 1. 
EPIGRAM the First. To Phillis.
 2. 
EPIGRAM the Second. To the Same.
 3. 
EPIGRAM the Third. To the Same.
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PART the Third. THE BATTEL OF THE POETS, In Two CANTOS.
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THE BATTEL of the POETS.
 I. 
CANTO I.
 II. 
CANTO II.
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PART the Fourth, CONTAINING PARAPHRASES, IMITATIONS, AND TRANSLATIONS, Of several Parts of the Antients.
  
THE Lamentation of David for Saul and Jonathan,
  
Psalm the 97th paraphrased.
  
Psalm the 137th paraphrased.
  
A HYMN, From Psalm the 145th.
  
Simonides on Human Life Paraphrased.
  
To a Friend, In Imitation of Horace to Martius Censorinus, Book IV, Ode VIII.
  
An Imitation of the same. To a Foe.
  
Ode the 4th of the Epodes, On Menas, Imitated.
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THE EPISODE of Thersites, Translated From the second Book of the ILIAD of HOMER.
  
THERSITES, From the second Book of the Iliad.
  
TYRTÆUS on MARTIAL Virtue.
  
ANACREON. Ode the First.
  
ANACREON To the Grasshopper.
  
An EPIGRAM From the GREEK.
  
ACCIUS.
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TRANSLATIONS From CATULLUS.
  
To Cornelius Nepos.
  
To Himself.
  
To Alphenus.
  
Of Lesbia.
  
To Lesbia.
  
From the Epithalamium On the Nuptials of Thetis and Peleus.
  
Of ARRIUS.
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[Translations from Virgil.]
  
A Description of Spring from the second Book of Virgil's Georgics.
  
The 6th Ode of the 1st Book of Horace. To Varius.
  
Of the Instability of Things.
  
MARTIAL.
  
Epistle the Ninth. TO Dr. Edward Milward,
  
Ode the Twentyeth. TO The honourable Master Robert Petre a Day old, 1741.
  
The Twenty-fourth Ode of the first Book of Horace imitated and paraphrased, on the Death of Sir William Windham Bart.

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43

WILL. SOMERS, A TALE.

When the eighth Henry rul'd with iron Sway,
And taught his Wives and Subjects to obey,
When Conclaves prov'd in vain fam'd Tudor's Foes,
The Temples totter'd, and Will. Somers rose,
A short squad Figure, with a wadling Pace,
Quick Eyes, large Nose, and almost round his Face,
Thick were his Lips, and double was his Chin,
Now grave, now merry with a simple Grin.
Much in the Inns of Court he lov'd to dwell,
And tippled with the Clerks of Clerkenwell,
He laugh'd, and learn'd their Jokes, what Jokes they had,
And Quarter-quibbles made his Heart right glad.
44

Among the Wits our Hero gain'd a Place;
Such were the Merits of his drolling Face!
They hear'd him talk, and chuckle to his Fill,
And never fail'd to join the Laugh with Will;
Pleas'd he the Laugh prolong'd, the Laughers bless'd,
Nor saw himself the Jester and the Jest.
Once in a Fit cry'd the facetious Wight,
None well can be a Wit that can not write.
Then from the mould'ring Page he cull'd the Flow'r
Of Chaucer, Lydgate, learned More, and Gow'r.
Will lov'd his Country, and disdain'd to roam
For Learning farther than his native Home.
In Thought he rises as the greatest great,
And scribbles Poems, and Essays of State;
Which rais'd him, by Degrees, to such Renown,
His Name was known to ev'ry Wit in Town!
So his Discendants wise provide their Stock
From Dryden, Temple, Addison, and Locke.
Will now frequents the Court, where, with Delight,
The King observ'd so new, so odd, a Sight,
And, when inform'd in what he plac'd his Skill,
He was resolv'd to crack a Joke with Will.
45

Each Face, he cry'd, in this bright Round survey;
And answer what I ask without Delay.
Of Cheats who seems the greatest in the Ring?
Will look'd about, and say'd, God save the King.
Henceforth the Monarch took him to his Court,
Grac'd with a Pension, for his royal Sport.
Will bow'd; the Courtiers smil'd; and with a Grin
Will inly mumbled let those laugh who win.
 

In the Reign of King Henry the 8th Plays were acted by the Clerks of Clerkenwell.

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