The Poetical Works of The Rev. Samuel Bishop :: :: University of Virginia Library

When from our Master's hand this theme I took,
Rhyme, nolens volens, coupled it with—Cook:
And tho' the wise say, second thoughts are best,
My first, with your good leave, shall stand the test;
The Cook shall matter for the Book prepare,
And turn my Catalogue to a Bill of Fare:
Nor frown, if puns, more thick than proofs, are laid;
So our poetic Force-meat must be made.

The Folio Volume's ample bulk supplies
A literary Dish, of larger size.
—In Epic Verse, when skill and genius meet;
'Tis vast Sir-loin, an universal treat.

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Solid, tho' savory, flows th' Historic Strain;
Like the boil'd Buttock—cut and come again.
Encyclopedias art's whole scope include;
And set before you science barbicued;
Where, as your stomach serves, your mess you measure,
And choose your Joint, and cut your slice at pleasure.
Fathers and Canonists are tough, dry food;
Mere learned Stock-fish, neither bad nor good.
Law Codes from time a musty sanction get;
As Venison takes it's flavour from fumette.
Words under words, in rows succeeding rows,
The Dictionary's column'd leaf compose;
And stand (in culinary style exprest)
Like Bacon on a larded Turkey's breast.
Long-winded Scholiasts, in th' enormous page,
Hash up the dulness of a former age;
Or the vast vase with Water-souchy fill,
And make insipid, more insipid still:

228

While Critics, that in sounder sense excel,
Like Smelts round Salmon, grace the dish they swell.

So much for Folios.—Smaller Books appear,
Tho' less substantial, yet more various cheer.
—Abridgments give an Author's works in brief;
As Cooks to Jelly stew down shins of beef.
The cloth for Turtle, hack Translators spread;
Then serve up Goose's Gibblets, or Calve's Head.
Reviews and Magazines odd scraps retail;
True Salmagundi stuff, sour, salt, fresh, stale.
Satire is pepper'd Gizzard grill'd in taste.
And what are Modern Essays, but puff-paste?
Comedy's Soup-maigre, from a French Tureen:
And Tragedy, the black -pudding of the scene.
What's Modish Eloquence?—Whipt-cream, for sooth,
Froth'd up and sugar'd, to the vulgar tooth.
State Logic's Chicken-Broth, so thin, so weak!
And Opposition Politics, Bubble-and-squeak!

229

Love-Poetry's Pap-sauce, soft, simple, sweet:
And Popular Theology, minc'd-meat.
Scribblers, from hand to mouth, who write and live,
In weekly Numbers, mental Spoon-meat give.
Alamode Collops Miscellanies club:
And Novels, sentimental Syllabub.

Not Books alone from Viands take their cue,
Even Bindings have a spice of Cookery too.
Sheets into Skin, like Sausages are thrust:
Gilding is Garnish; Pasteboard is rais'd-crust.

Some frivolous gentry of the present day,
In Alphabetic Buckles shine away:
But language needs not fashion's flimsy aid;
It's elemental base is deeper laid:
Your children living, and your grandsires dead,
Lov'd, while they thumb'd, and tasted as they read,
The Horn-book's best edition, Gingerbread.

230

Thus Books are intellectual Aliment; drest
For every appetite of every guest:—
Or, if a various reading you can swallow,
“Scripta Palati nunc, quæcunque recepit Apollo.”

Scripta, Palatinus quæcunque recepit Apollo. Horat. Ep. 3. L. I.