Gulliveriana or, a fourth volume of miscellanies. Being a Sequel of the Three Volumes published by Pope and Swift. To which is added, Alexanderiana; or, A Comparison between the Ecclesiastical and Poetical Pope. And many Things, in Verse and Prose, relating to the latter. With an ample Preface; and a Critique on the Third Volume of Miscellanies lately publish'd by those two facetious Writers [by Jonathan Smedley] |
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King OBERON's Edict.
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 | Gulliveriana |  |
337
King OBERON's Edict.
On Occasion of the Students of the College of Dublin continually writing in the Lilliputian Manner and Measure of Verse.
Little
Lads, of Dublin Town,
Dangling in a dirty Gown;
On your short Iambick Feet,
Thro' each Lane, and thro' each Street.
Dangling in a dirty Gown;
On your short Iambick Feet,
Thro' each Lane, and thro' each Street.
Ye Bards, by tasting Patrick's Spring,
Who Little Sonnets learn to Sing.
Patrick! Righteous! Rhimey Saint!
Bless'd with Bards, So queer! So quaint!
Who Little Sonnets learn to Sing.
Patrick! Righteous! Rhimey Saint!
Bless'd with Bards, So queer! So quaint!
Ye Petty Priests, and Witless Wits!
Who preach to sleep, the drowsy Cits;
And Bother both the Belles and Beaus;
With Ribald Rhime, and Paultry Prose;
Prose and Rhime, and Rhime and Prose!
Cold and Light as Mountain Snows;
Rhime and Prose, and Prose and Rhime!
Be it Blank or chance it Chime;
Like canker'd Cork, of little Worth;
Corkiest Cork! or Frothiest Froth!
Needless to be understood;
Meaning neither Harm nor Good:
Including neither False, or True;
Vanishing like Morning Dew;
Or the Wind, that's past and gone,
Yet blowing still, and blowing on:
That Fam'd, oft-quoted Wind! I trow,
Which Good to Nobody does blow.
Who preach to sleep, the drowsy Cits;
338
With Ribald Rhime, and Paultry Prose;
Prose and Rhime, and Rhime and Prose!
Cold and Light as Mountain Snows;
Rhime and Prose, and Prose and Rhime!
Be it Blank or chance it Chime;
Like canker'd Cork, of little Worth;
Corkiest Cork! or Frothiest Froth!
Needless to be understood;
Meaning neither Harm nor Good:
Including neither False, or True;
Vanishing like Morning Dew;
Or the Wind, that's past and gone,
Yet blowing still, and blowing on:
That Fam'd, oft-quoted Wind! I trow,
Which Good to Nobody does blow.
To ye, ye Pygmey Poets, I
Prince of Pygmiest Pygmies, hie,
And command you, quite, to quit,
This Laconic Fit of Wit,
For to me, without Dispute,
Appertain All Things minute.
Prince of Pygmiest Pygmies, hie,
And command you, quite, to quit,
This Laconic Fit of Wit,
339
Appertain All Things minute.
Minute Metre, Dapper Wit;
Tiney Thoughts, which Bit by Bit,
Straining through a Nutshell Brain,
Form The Genuine Fairy Strain.
Banishing, with All His gay Tricks,
From my Court Dean of Saint Patrick's;
Who is a meer USURPER grown,
And aims at Oberon's Rightful Crown:
Tiney Thoughts, which Bit by Bit,
Straining through a Nutshell Brain,
Form The Genuine Fairy Strain.
Banishing, with All His gay Tricks,
From my Court Dean of Saint Patrick's;
Who is a meer USURPER grown,
And aims at Oberon's Rightful Crown:
Thus I warn ye, o'er and o'er,
In Epitom to write no more:
Without Knowledge, without Reading:
Without Sense, and without Breeding;
Nought amusing, nothing pleasing,
No—no—no—nothing but teizing;
And this I do Command, again,
On this Penalty and Pain;
My Imps, they all, shall teize ye,
My Nymphs shall never please ye,
Not one Wink shall ye sleep,
Till Broad Day, forth, doth peep:
Your Crambo's I'll conceal,
Your Pen and Ink I'll steal;
And if ye hit on somewhat witty,
A Changling shall supplant the Ditty.
In Epitom to write no more:
Without Knowledge, without Reading:
Without Sense, and without Breeding;
Nought amusing, nothing pleasing,
No—no—no—nothing but teizing;
And this I do Command, again,
On this Penalty and Pain;
My Imps, they all, shall teize ye,
My Nymphs shall never please ye,
340
Till Broad Day, forth, doth peep:
Your Crambo's I'll conceal,
Your Pen and Ink I'll steal;
And if ye hit on somewhat witty,
A Changling shall supplant the Ditty.
Given at our Court, at Kensington, the 20th
Day of the 6th Month in the World, under the Moon.
Counter sign'd, Pusillo Pygmatio Sec. Stat.
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