Verses by John Frederick Bryant late tobacco-pipe maker at Bristol. Together with his life, written by himself |
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The LIFE of J. P.
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 | Verses by John Frederick Bryant |  |
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The LIFE of J. P.
The NETTLEBED-LAMITE.
A conceited young Bricklayer, a Native of Nettlebed, in Oxfordshire, who used to boast of his Skill in hedging, ditching, boxing, &c. &c. as well as in his own business, in which he thought himself too good a Workman to be employed in any Part, except the Front Walls, which are built with a better Sort of Bricks, called Front Stocks.
It was begun in consequence of a Dispute; but soon stopped in its Progress by a Treat of Beef-steaks and Porter, with which the Bricklayer thought fit to silence the Labourer's Muse.
Oft has the muse presum'd, in numbers great,
To sing the various turns of human fate;
And ventur'd oft, in solemn verse, to tell
How mighty empires rose, and how they fell;
Nor left unsung the rape of Sparta's queen,
Nor how Achilles lov'd fair Pollexene.
Divinities and men, and martial frogs,
Alike have grac'd her epics or eclogues.
Equal she brings, to interest the mind,
The world's proud master, or the humble hind.
To sing the various turns of human fate;
And ventur'd oft, in solemn verse, to tell
How mighty empires rose, and how they fell;
Nor left unsung the rape of Sparta's queen,
Nor how Achilles lov'd fair Pollexene.
Divinities and men, and martial frogs,
Alike have grac'd her epics or eclogues.
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The world's proud master, or the humble hind.
Th'atchievements of a shoe-black may be told
In florid language, and in diction bold:
Then shall a hect'ring tradesman's deeds be lost,
Whose bringing-up so many crowns has cost?
No, thou, my muse, shalt rescue from the jaws
Of dark oblivion such a weighty cause.
In florid language, and in diction bold:
Then shall a hect'ring tradesman's deeds be lost,
Whose bringing-up so many crowns has cost?
No, thou, my muse, shalt rescue from the jaws
Of dark oblivion such a weighty cause.
Amidst Oxonian vales, where waving corn
Makes farmers purse-proud, and the fields adorn;
Lo! in an obscure village, with a name
Gross as the stinging weed that bears the same,
Young Frontstock was begot, conceiv'd, and born.
Thus in a bed of nettles grew a thorn.
But soon the father, with paternal joy,
Beheld the early genius of the boy
To rear with unwrought flint the rustic wall,
Though sometimes, like old Jericho's , they'd fall:
Nor was the boy at hedging less expert;
Ditching and banking too he'd got by heart;
To architecture ev'ry way inclin'd,
As mostly suiting with his tow'ring mind;
To which th'indulgent parent bound him fast,
Though some folks think he ran away at last.
Makes farmers purse-proud, and the fields adorn;
Lo! in an obscure village, with a name
Gross as the stinging weed that bears the same,
Young Frontstock was begot, conceiv'd, and born.
Thus in a bed of nettles grew a thorn.
But soon the father, with paternal joy,
Beheld the early genius of the boy
To rear with unwrought flint the rustic wall,
Though sometimes, like old Jericho's , they'd fall:
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Ditching and banking too he'd got by heart;
To architecture ev'ry way inclin'd,
As mostly suiting with his tow'ring mind;
To which th'indulgent parent bound him fast,
Though some folks think he ran away at last.
| Verses by John Frederick Bryant | |