MERRY-THOUGHT. PART II.

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INTRODUCTION.

You will pardon the Editor that he does not put Things better in Order; but he is so engaged in reading the Letters sent him in from the two Universities, after the Publication of the First Part, that he believes the Preface is in the Middle of the Book; but I dare swear you’ll find it somewhere or other, and so readon.


In Trinity-College Bogs.

Ye Cantabs mind when ye are sh--t--ng,

How nearly ’tis allied to Writing.

——To Writing, say you? ——pray how so?

An uncouth Simile, I trow.

——Hold, pray —— Condemn it not untry’d;

Hear only how it is apply’d.

As learned Johnian wracks his Brain——

Thinks, ——hems, ——looks wise, ——then thinks again;——

When all this Preparation’s done,

The mighty Product is —— a Pun.

So some with direful strange Grimaces,

Within this Dome distort their Faces;

Strain, ——squeeze, ——yet loth for to depart,

Again they strain—for what? a Fart.

Hence Cantabs take this moral Trite,

’Gainst Nature, if ye think or sh--te;

Use all the Labour, all the Art,

’Twill ne’er exceed a Pun, or Fart.

Red-Lion, Egham.

Coquets will always merry prove;

But Prudes are those give down their love;

And love and move, and move to love.

Underwritten.

A Prude for my Money, by G--d.

T. S. 1711.

Written on the Looking-Glass of Mr. Tpn, Fellow-Commoner of Trinity-College, Cambridge.

Imago in Speculo loquitur ad Tpn.

I.

Thou pretty little fluttering Thing,

That mak’st this gaudy Shew;

Thou senseless Mimick of a Man,

Thou Being, call’d a Beau.

II.

Like me thou art an empty Form,

Like me alone, thou’rt made;

Like me delusive seem’st a Man,

But only art a Shade.

Tuns in Cambridge, Window facing a certain Alderman’s in the Market.

Is Molly Fr—— immortal? ——No.

She is; and I will prove her so.

She’s fifteen now, and was, I know,

Fifteen, full fifteen Years ago.

Underwritten.

The Fates from Heaven late came Post;

And thus address’d this Cambridge Toast.

Say happy Maid that can detain

Old hoary Time in fetter’d Chain,

What wouldst thou have to set him free,

And give thy captive Liberty?

Miss Molly call’d Mamma aside,

—— Whisper’d awhile, then thus reply’d;

Upon my Life, all I would have

From Victor is to be a Slave;

I’ll soon untie this Captive’s Hands;

—— Tie me but fast in Hymen’s Bands.

On the Same on another Pane.

At Home Miss Molly’s scarce fifteen.

Mamma says she’s no more;

But if the Parish-Book says true,

Miss Molly’s thirty four.

Poor Miss Molly!

Wrote on Cor———— Cr————d’s (a Printer and Bookseller in Cambridge) Window in the Shop.

Ye longing Sophs, say it who can,

That Corny’s not a learned Man.

He knows well each Edition, Sir,

Of Aldus, and of Elzevir;

Of Beza he profoundly reasons,

And talks jocose of Harry Stephens.

Though (says a Wag) all this I grant,

Yet Corny sure must Learning want.

How so? ——It’s plain, (if that we may

B’lieve what Men of themselves do say,)

For Corny’s openly* confess’d.

He’s but a Blockhead at the best.

* Corny, in Printing a Latin Book, censur’d by the University, was forced to plead Ignoramus to save his Bacon.

Another in the Shop, on C——’s Title Page

Learning.

Within this learn’d Receptacle of Arts,

Corny, if ask’d, on each can shew his Parts;

Alike a Newton, or a Ratcliffe prove;

A Coke in Law——an Etheridge in Love.—

Reason profound——in Hist’ry state each Fact,

Teach† London how to think, or Walpole how to act.

O say from whence should all this Learning come.——

From whence?——from each dead Sage around the Room.

If Corny thence his Fund of Learning draws,

How great his Skill in Politicks or Laws? ——

How deeply read? —— how vast his learned Store? ——

—— When —— past the Title, all his Learning’s o’er.

† Bishop.

Another in the Same.

Is Corny’s Learning much; my Friends;

Since where it does begin, —— it ends?

From a Window in Ardenham-House, Hertfordshire.

As glass obdurate no Impression takes,

But what the radiant piercing Diamond makes;

Just so my Heart all other Pow’rs defies,

But those of fair Venilla’s brilliant Eyes.

Written in a Lady’s Dressing Room.

Brunetta, I grant you, can give her Swain Death;

But ’tis not with her Eyes, but with her--ill Breath.

From a Window in the Inner Temple-Hall.

Come hither, Barristers of Dress,

That once your Lips may meet Success:

From Rufus’ filthy Hall withdraw;

Here only ye can live by Law.

A Rebus on Lady of Quality, on a Glass at the Old Devil Tavern.

What fly from her Eyes, and the Place whither I

Must soon be convey’d to, unless she comply,

Is the Name of the Beauty for whom I could die.

N. B. Darts and Shafts fly from her Eyes, and if one dies, one must be bury’d.

Under the Rebus on Lady Sh---bury, at the Devil Tavern, is this;

What opens a Door, and a Word of Offence,

Tell the Name of a Nymph of Wit, Beauty, and Sense.

Supposed to be for Miss Ke-ly.

From the Window of a Chamber in the Inner Temple.

For dear Venilla in my Arms,

I’d scorn all other female Charms;

Ten thousand Beauties she can spare,

And still be Fairest of the Fair.

From innumerable Windows.

Like Mars I’ll fight, like Antony I’ll love,

I’ll drink like Bacchus, and I’ll whore like Jove.

From the Apollo, the large Dancing-Room in the Devil Tavern, written when some were engaged in a particular Country-Dance.

This Dance foretells that Couple’s Life,

Who mean to dance as Man and Wife;

As here, they’ll first with Vigour set,

Give Hands, and turn whene’er they meet;

But soon will quit their former Track,

Cast off and end in Back to Back.

From the Angel Tavern, Temple-Bar.

’Tis hard! ’tis wonderous hard!

That the Life of a Man

Should be but a Span,

And that of a Woman a Yard!

From a Watch-Maker’s Window, Fleet-Street.

Here Time is bought and sold: ’Tis plain, my Friend,

My Clocks and Watches shew what I intend;

For you I Time correct,

My Time I spend;

By Time I live,

But not one Inch will lend,

Except you pay the ready down or send:

I trust no Time,

Unless the Times do mend.

On a Watch-Case in a Gentleman’s Pocket, given him by a Lady.

The Wretched pray to make more Haste,

The Happy say we fly too fast;

Therefore impossible to know,

Whether I go too fast or slow.

S. M.

At Hollyhead, I suppose, written by some Creation-Mender.

Arra, now what signifies the making the two great Lights?

The Sun to light the Day, and the Moons to light the Nights:

For the Sun in the Day-Time there is no Occasion,

Because I can see very well after my Persuasion:

But for the Moons, they are very good in a dark Night,

Because when we cannot see they give us a Light.

Crown at Harlow.

Rail at your Father, rail at your Mother,

Rail at your Sister, rail at your Brother,

Rail on, my Boys, and rail at one another.

Underwritten.

Rail as you say, and you’ll be all railed in.

Written upon the Wall of Clements-Inn, when the Dial was put up which is supported by a black Slave in a kneeling Posture.

In vain poor sable Son of Woe,

Thou seek’st a tender Ear;

In vain thy Tears with Anguish flow,

For Mercy dwells not here:

From Cannibals thou fly’st in vain,

Lawyers less Quarter give;

The first won’t eat you till you’re slain,

The last will do’t alive.

Hampstead on a Window.

I am a Dog ——

In true Fidelity

I am a Sun ——

In faithful Constancy:

I am a Stote, ——

To please a lustful Lass;

I am a Hog, ——

And you may kiss my A——se.

But if my Celia comes within my Ken;

Then I shall be again like other Men.

On another at the same Place.

My Wife says, Whither do you go?

And I return, my dear, I do not know;

Then d——n your Blood, says she, to use me thus;

And then I call her catterwauling Puss.

Hampton-Court, at the Mitre.

A Ramp of very noted Name,

I need not say, for all Men know her Fame,

Lascivious, as the human Race could be,

She could not see a Man, but fell in Extasy.

On a dyer’s Sign at Southwark.

I die to live,

I live to die,

And hope to live eternally.

At the Star at Coventry.

A poor Woman was ill in a dangerous Case,

She lay in, and was just as some other Folks was:

By the Lord, cries She then, if my Husband e’er come,

Once again with his Will for to tickle my Bum,

I’ll storm, and I’ll swear, and I’ll run staring wild;

And yet the next Night, the Man got her with Child.

S. M. 1708.

By Desire not to insert the Place.

What care I for Mistress May’ress;

She’s little as the Queen of Fairies:

Her little Body like my Thumb,

Is thicker far than other some;

Her Conscience yet would stretch so wide;

Either on this, or t’other Side,

That none could tell when they did ride.

Underwritten.

Swim for thy Life, dear Boy, for I can feel neither Bottom nor Sides.

In Pencil upon a Wall in a Tavern near Covent-Garden.

I become all Things to all Men, to gain some, or I must have starved.

Moll. Friskey.

Star-Inn at Coventry.

Molly the gay, the black, the friskey,

Would kiss like any wanton Gipsey;

Nor was her Mouth alone the Case,

A Man of Worth might kiss her A——se.

At a Tavern at the Royal Exchange.

I’ve now a Coach and Six before me,

Each female court’sies to adore me:

But from my dearest I can’t part,

Without returning her my Heart:

Tell her I am gone a Month or longer,

While she may gain more Love, and I grow stronger.

S. M. Oct. 17. 1720.

From a Tavern in Fleet-Street.

I’ll drink like Bacchus, and I’ll fight like Mars,

The Kind I’ll love, the Cross may kiss my A--se.

In the same Room in a Woman’s Hand.

Since cruel Fate has robb’d me of the Youth,

For whom my Heart had hoarded all its Truth,

I’ll ne’er love more, dispairing e’er to find,

Such Constancy and Truth amongst Mankind.

Feb. 18, 1725.

Underwritten.

I kiss’d her the next Night, and she’s one of the Walkers Family.

Feb. 18. 1725.

Dublin in a Window in Castle-Street.

O mortal Man that’s made of Clay,

Is here to-Morrow, and is gone to Day.

In a Bog-House at Hampstead.

There’s Nothing foul that we commit,

But what we write, and what we sh--t.

Three-Pigeons at Brentford.

Wer’t not for Whims, Candles, and Carrots

Young Fellows Things might ride in Chariots.

Tom Long, July 17.

Underwritten.

Heaven for all those Helps to Nature,

Or else poor P—— could get no Quarter.

Letter on a Window at Stony-Stratford, to Miss Mary Vdle.

We shall B in better Q,

When U have I, and I have U.

T. M. 1720

From a Window in Hell, near Westminster-Hall.

Old Orpheus tickled his Harp so well,

That he tickled Eurydice out of Hell,

With a Twing come Twang, and a Twing come Twang; but,

Some say Euridice was a Scold

Therefore the Devil of her took hold,

With a Twing come Twang, &c.

S. S. 1714.

Underwritten.

If my Wife had been e’er in the Devil’s Hands,

You know it would loose all other Bands,

And I should been pleased with House and Lands.

F. R. 1718.

PREFACE.

From a Paper found in the Street at Twelve at Night, 1708. near Covent-Garden. Argument concerning a Greek Opera that was to have been set on Foot, when People liked to see and hear Operas first in Italian.

As Languages are introduced among us Christian People daily that we do not understand, by Way of Italian Opera, &c. why may we not entertain the Publick with a little Greek, as natural as Pigs squeak.—

And for Latin, ’tis no more dificile,

Than for a Blackbird ’tis to whistle.

Hud.

I love dearly to quote my Authors.

I have been with both the Play-Houses, and one says d——n it, it won’t do; and t’other says, Z——ds it will not take; then says I to myself, I’ll have a Greek Opera, by Gd; and with this Resolution I set about it, and made a Specimen, and so went with it in a Chair to the Opera-House, to give it the better Grace. But that would not do neither; for one did not understand Greek; nor t’other did not understand Greek; and Italian was all in Vogue: And I did not understand that; and so we could make no Bargain, and I returned Home.

Z——ds, thinks I, if I don’t understand their barbarous Language, must I let them have any Thing of my ancient Language? No, Messieurs! I’ll let my Opera remain in its Infancy, and you shall curse yourselves before you have it compleat; but that you shall know what Fools you have been, I’ll stick a Needle through my Nose, that you may look sharp; and then you will say, why did not US take it, for in the first Scene I saw all the Audience laugh. But to the Point, i.e. the second Preamble or Argument,

OPERA.

Scene is the City of Athens, and an old Woman lives in a hollow Tree, where she sells Gin and Gingerbread to the Grenadiers; her Name is Gammer Hocus. Then there comes a Goddess, who sells Butter and Eggs at Athens Market, upon her Uncle’s bald Mare; and as the Mare is a stumbling Jade, so she falls down before Hocus’s Tree, and hurts her Rump, and then we begin.

N. B. When the Goddess Cinderaxan falls down before Gammer Hocus’s Door, or Tree, she begins in Ricitativo——Greek Fashion.

O! mega mar, hocus the baldmare has cantedme ontoss;

* PhillÀdram sukami, some Spirit offerme to suckon.

Dear Hokey behasty, forbum sufferssore by a Thumpon’t;

No baldmare my Gammon shall contuseagain by one moretoss.

* Fill.

English’d thus for the Benefit of the Ladies, though ’tis much the same in the Greek.

O my Gammer Hocus, the bald Mare has canted me one Toss;

Fill a Dram, sick am I, some Spirit offer me to suck on.

Dear Hokey be hasty, for Bum suffers sore by a Thump on’t.

No bald Mare my Gammon shall contuse again by one more Toss.

Then out comes Gammer Hocus, when the Goddess had called for a Dram in the second Line, and sings with an Air, seeing her Goddessship as dirty as the Devil.

Cinderaxan’s sablehew’d Aspect,——

Fulloffun, though the Doxey can seemcoy.

And here we leave off. Is not the Devil in the People, that they will not encourage a good Thing, when they have it before them.

Crown at Uxbridge, 1708.

An Acrostick upon something or other.

Commodious for a Haven made,

Under a rising Bank,

Nature has fix’d a Place of Trade,

To Men of any Rank.

Underwritten.

Riddle my ree, &c.

And read the four first Letters, and you’ll see.

R. M.

A Man hanging for Love, drawn when Painting was in its Cradle, with his Dog barking at him, viva voce. From the three Pigeons at Brentford.

picture described above

The Occasion of this dangling Story, was from a Lady who hated him, and set him aboutit.

Go hang thyself, quoth cruel She,

Go hang thyself I say.

The Man obey’d her presently,

And made himself away.

Mary Worthless.

The Criticks do not make out whether he walk’d off, or went off, neither does the Figure determine which.

Hang me, if I will hang for any Woman,

For most of them alike are very common;

I’d sooner trudge as I have done before,

Than hang upon a d——d confounded Whore.

Underwritten.

No Matter if the Man is longer than the Gallows,

He smokes and drinks his Glass like honest Fellows.

Upon a Drinking-Glass at Charing-Cross.

Nanny Sach——l is all my Toast;

She’s all I wish for, and is all my Boast.

Egham, at the Red Lion.

Help me, ye Pow’rs, to sing my Sylvia’s Praise;

Nor P--pe nor Sw--ft can do it now a-days.

But you, nor I, or them, can ever boast,

There ever was in Europe such a Toast;

All we can say, is, Lucy rules the Roast.

At a Place not to be recorded.

A d---d confounded Bitch,

Ugly and cunning as a Witch.

Her Bill shall be preferr’d by Law;

The House we wish we’d never saw.

One Pound five and ten Pence;

Grant her Repentance;

We’ll never come here again;

And let her alone remain.

J. S.
R. S. 17 July.
1722. very truly.

I do not complain of my Phillis,

Because I know what her proud Will is;

For I know how she’ll rant,

And I know what I want;

G--d d---n her old Aunt;

I stand here, and wait for her, That stillis.

On a beautiful Sempstress, in a Window at Charing-Cross.

Dolly, with Beauty and Art,

Has so hemm’d in my Heart,

That I cannot resist the Charm.

In Revenge I will stitch

Up the Hole near her Breach,

With a Needle as long as my Arm.

R.

Two Girls at a Bar, that would do’t, and one Gentleman would chatter too long.

What the Devil should we meddle

With diddle daddle, fiddle faddle;

We shall lose the Girls that please;

Go to Bed, and take your Ease.

M. C. to his Friend.

Underwritten.

I know they’ll ease you both, for I have been aboard of them.

R. C.

I shall tell best at the next Meeting:

The Proof of the Pudding is in the eating.

Blue Posts, Charing-Cross.

Use me friendly, use me kind;

I’ll be the kindest of my Sex;

I’ll love, be constant, and you’ll find,

I’ll be your own in Middlesex.

Molly Sh——r.

Underwritten.

Take care you keep her Country to yourself.

M. L.

Red Lion at Egham.

I watch and pray for dearest Nancy,

Because I always love her Fancy;

But then there comes,

Like Bailiff Bums,

The Watch with Lights we can see;

And then she’ll pray,

And I must pay,

And retreat as clean as a Tansey.

Underwritten.

For Money one may whore,

And I’ll say no more.——

R. T.

At the same Place.

I am a young Thing, just come from my Mammy.

S. L.

Underwritten

Then you want to be kiss’d, G--d d---n ye.

Captain R. T.

Bull-and-Mouth-Street.

If Virtue rules the Minds of Women,

They’ll never let you touch their Linnen;

But if they are not Virtue Proof,

Then you may kiss them oft enough.

Uxbridge, at the Crown.

Molley came up to Town precise,

Demure, yet fire in her Eyes;

So did she look confounded civil;

With Grace and Beauty like a Devil;

But soon her Eyes drew in some Hearts,

And some Things else like Cupid’s Darts,

Which gave her Pains, and many Smarts.

Underwritten.

Thou Puppy, ——

The Fire of her Eyes occasioned the Flame of her Heart,

And drew the Fire to her lower Part.

R. L.

From the same Place.

After a tedious Journey, and my Supper,

And dam——d uneasy with my Crupper,

Jenney came up to warm my Bed,

A pretty Girl; but I was dead,

Or else I’d had her Maidenhead.

R. T.

Swan at Uxbridge.

Who’s been here,

The Devil I fear;

For he’s left the Bottles clear.

R. Est——n, 1710.

Underwritten.

’Twas so; for nothing so like the Devil as an empty Bottle.

G. S. 1711.

Boghouse at Uxbridge.

If a Man should breathe backwards, and happens to stink,

You may say, if you will, it is natural Instinct.

Underwritten.

You may quibble upon the Word Instinct, if you will; but I think ’tis better out than in, considering the Case.

I. M. of Oxon.

Betty Careless, her Prayers: From her Chambers in Drury-Lane, on a Wall, written with a Piece of Charcoal.

Grant us good lusty Men, ye gracious Pow’rs!

Or else stop up those craving Things of ours!

From the Plough Ale-House in Fore-Street, near Cripplegate, written upon a Wall.

Good Bread and Meat, strong Beer withal,

Will make a Td more lasting;

Therefore I think he is a Fool,

That goes out in a Morning fasting.

Tom. Rudge.

We suppose he wants to eternize his Memory by eating a Breakfast.

When I lay with my bouncing Nell,

I gave her an Inch, and she took an Ell:

But I think in this Case it was damnable hard,

When I gave her an Inch, she’d want more than a Yard.

Hampstead, at the Flask.

Nothing so certain as the Uncertainties of this Life, says one of the Greek Philosophers.

Hoxton, on a Wall.

What Difference between Kings T---ds and mine?

One may be costive, one be full of Slime;

Yet equally will any Hog that feeds,

Produce good Pork by feeding on our Needs.

Underwritten.

You nasty Dog, you may eat your Pork yourself.

Hampstead, at the Flask.

Tell me why, ye gen’rous Swains?

Tell me, ye Nymphs upon the Plains?

Why does Sylvia leave the Green?

Has she done any Thing obscene?

They all reply’d, Your Sylvia’s gone;

For she will do’t with ev’ry one.

From the Red Lyon at Egham.

She that thinks upon her Honour,

Needs no other Guard upon her.

Underwritten.

She that has a Man upon her,

Never thinks upon her Honour.

In Trinity College Boghouse, Dublin.

You who instead of Fodder, Fingers use,

Pray lick ’em clean, and don’t this Wall abuse.

Under which is written;

These House-of-Office Poets, by the L---d,

Instead of Laurel, should be crown’d with T---d.

In a Window, at the Sign of the Four Crosses, on the Road to West Chester.

Host! wou’d you paint your Crosses to the Life,

Pull down your Sign, and then hang up your Wife.

On A Window at Canbury-House.

The Breast of ev’ry British Fair,

Like this bright, brittle, slippery Glass,

A Diamond makes Impression there,

Though on the Finger of an Ass.

On a Person of Quality’s Boghouse.

Good Lord! who could think,

That such fine Folks should stink?

On a Window at Bushy-Hall, Hertfordshire.

Love is like Blindman’s Buff, where we pursue,

We know not what we catch, we know not who;

And when we grasp our Wish, what Prize is won?

Our Eyes are open’d, and the Play is done.

Some Love Verses being first written on a Window in Brook-Street, and scratched out, occasioned the following:

Good grave Papa, you hope in vain,

By blotting this to mend her;

She who writes Love upon the Pane,

Will soon leap out at Window.

On the Middle Temple Boghouse.

Well sung of Yore, a Bard of Wit,

That some Folks read, but all Folks sh---t;

But now the Case is alter’d quite,

Since all who come to Boghouse write.

On the same Place.

Because they cannot eat, some Authors write;

And some, it seems, because they cannot sh--te.

On a Glass at the Devil Tavern, Temple-Bar.

The stubborn Glass no Character receives,

Except the Stamp the piercing Brilliant gives.

A female Heart thus no Impression takes,

But what the Lover tipp’d with Diamond makes.

At Launder’s Coffee-House, in the Old Play-House Passage.

Dear Pat, ’tis vain to patch or paint,

Since still a fragrant Breath you want;

For though well furnish’d, yet all Folks

Despise a Room whose Chimney smokes.

White-Hart at Watford.

Parody of four Lines of Dryden.

Glass with a Diamond does our Wit betray;

Who can write sure on that smooth slippery Way?

Pleas’d with our scribling we cut swiftly on,

And see the Nonsense, which we cannot shun.

In a Window at the Kings-Arms Tavern, Fleet-Street.

Both mine and Women’s Fate you’ll judge from hence ill,

That we are pierc’d by ev’ry Coxcomb’s Pencil.

Written in a Window at a private House, by a desponding Lover in the Presence of his Mistress.

This Glass, my Fair’s the Emblem of your Mind,

Which brittle, slipp’ry, pois’nous oft we find.

Her Answer underneath.

I must confess, kind Sir, that though this Glass,

Can’t prove me brittle, it proves you an Ass.

Sent by an unknown Hand.

O ye Powers above!

Who of Mortals take Care,

Make Women less cruel,

More fond, or less fair.

Was Helen half so fair, so form’d for Joy,

Well fought the Trojan, and well burnt was Troy.

FINIS.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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