WHA

FORMA BONUM FRAGILE.

HAT a frail thing is beauty, fays Baron le Cras, Perceiving his mistress had one eye of glass :s And scarcely had he spoke it,

When the, more confus'd as more angry fhe grew,
By a negligent rage prov'd the maxim too true;
She dropp'd the eye and broke it.

QUID SIT FUTURUM CRAS FUGE QUÆRERE.

OR what to-morrow fhall disclofe

FOR

May fpoil what you to-night propofe :

England may change, or Cloe stray;

Love and life are for to-day.

HER RIGHT NAME.

AS Nancy at her toilette fat,

Admiring this, and blaming that,

Tell me, the faid, but tell me true,

The nymph who could your heart fubdue,
What fort of charms does the poffefs?
Abfolve me,
fair one, I'll confefs
With pleasure, I reply'd: Her hair,
In ringlets rather dark than fair,
Does down her iv'ry bofom roll,
And hiding half, adorns the whole.
In her high forehead's fair half round
Love fits, in open triumph crowned;
He, in the dimple of her chin,
In private state, by friends is seen.
Her eyes are neither black nor grey,
Nor fierce nor feeble is their ray;
Their dubious luftre feems to fhew
Something that speaks nor yes nor no.
Her lips no living bard, I weet,

May fay how red, how round, how fweet:

9

Old Homer only could indite
Their vagrant grace and foft delight':
They ftand recorded in his book,
When Helen finil'd, and Hebe fpoke-
The gyply, turning to her glafs,
Too plainly fhew'd the knew the face;
And which am I moft like, fhe said,
Your Cloe or your Nut-brown Maid ?

I

UPON PLAYING AT OMBRE

WITH TWO LADIES.

KNOW that Fortune long has wanted fight, And therefore pardon'd when fhe did not right; But yet till then it never did appear

That, as he wanted eyes, she could not hear.
I begged that she would give me leave to lose,
A thing he does not commonly refufe.
Two matadores are out against my game,
Yet ftill I play, and ftill my luck's the fame :
Unconquer'd in three fuits it does remain,
Whereas I only afk in one to gain;
Yet the ftill contradicting gifts imparts,
And gives fuccefs in ev'ry fuit-but Hearts.

Engraven on three sides of

AN ANTIQUE LAMP.

GIVEN BY ME TO LORD HARLEY.

MAT. PRIOR.

E Mufeo Colbertino allatam

Domino Harleo inter Κειμήγια fua
Reponendam D. D. Matthæus Prior.

"This lamp which Prior to his Harley gave,
"Brought from the altar of the Cyprian dame,
Indulgent Time, through future ages fave,
"Before the Mufe to burn with purer flame."

Sperne dilectum Veneris facellum,
San&tius, lampas, tibi munus orno:
I fove cafto vigil Harleianas

Igne cammonas.

Engraven on a Column in

12

THE CHURCH OF HALSTEAD, IN ESSEX.

The Spire of which, burnt down by Lightning, was rebuilt at the Expence of Mr. S. Fiske, 1717.

VIEW not this fpire by measure given

VIEW

To buildings rais'd by common hands:

That fabric rifes high as heaven

Whofe bafis on devotion ftands.
While yet we draw this vital breath,
We can our faith and hope declare;
But charity, beyond our death,
Will ever in our works appear.
Beft be he called among good men,
Who to his God this column rais'd;
Tho' lightning ftrike the dome again,
The man who built it fhall be prais'd.
Yet fpires and tow'rs in duft fhall lie,
The weak efforts of human pains.
And Faith and Hope themfelves fhall die,
While deathlefs Charity remains.

10

16

FOR THE

PLAN OF A FOUNTAIN,

On which is the

EFFIGIES OF THE QUEEN ON A TRIUMPHAL ARCH,

The figure of the

DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH BENEATH,

And the chief Rivers of the World round the whole Work.

E active Streams, where'er your waters flow,

What ye from Thames and Danube have been taught, How Anne commanded, and how Marlbrô fought.

"Quæcunque æterno properatis, flumina, lapfu. 5 "Divifis late terris, populifque remotis

7

"Dicite, nam vobis Tamifis narravit et Ifter, "Anna quid imperiis potuit, quid Marlburus armis.”

AN EPITAPH.

Stet quicunque volet potens
Aulae culmine lubrico, &c.

Seneca.

NTERR'D beneath this marble stone

I Lie faunt' ring Jack and idle Joan,
While rolling threefcore years and one
Did round this globe their courses run:
If human things went ill or well,
If changing empires rofe or fell,
The morning paft, the evening came,
And found this couple ftill the fame.

They walked and ate, good folks; what then?

Why, then they walk'd and ate again.
They found y flept the night away;
They did juft nothing all the day;
And having buried children four,
Would not take pains to try for more.
Nor fifter either had, nor brother;
They feem'd just tally'd for each other.

10

15

Their moral and economy
Moft perfectly they made agree ;
Each virtue kept its proper bound,
Nor trefpafs'd on the other's ground.
Nor fame nor cenfure they regarded;
They neither punished nor rewarded.
He car'd not what the footman did;
Her maids fhe neither prais'd nor chid;
So ev'ry fervant took his course,

And, bad at firit, they all grew worfe,
Slothful diforder filled his ftable,
And fluttish plenty deck'd her table.

Their beer was strong; their wine was Port;
Their meal was large; their grace was short.
They gave the poor the remnant meat,
Juft when it grew not fit to eat.

They paid the church and parish rate,

And took, but read not, the receipt;

For which they claim'd their Sunday's due,
Of flumb'ring in an upper pew,

No man's defects fought they to know,

So never made themselves a fce:

No man's good deeds did they commend,
So never rais'd themselves a friend.
Nor cherish'd they relations poor;
That might decrease their prefent store :
Nor barn nor houfe did they repair;
That might oblige their future heir.
They neither added nor confounded;
They neither wanted nor abounded.
Each Chriftmas they accounts did clear,
And wound their bottom round the year.
Nor tear nor fimile did they employ
At news of public grief or joy.

When bells were rung, and bonfires made,
If afk'd, they ne'er deny'd their aid :
Their jug was to the ringers carried.
Whoever either dy'd or married:
Their billet at the fire was found,
Whoever was depos'd or crown'd.