Me poetry (or rather notes that aim, Employs, shut out from more important views, THE YEARLY DISTRESS, OR TITHING TIME AT STOCK, IN ESSEX. Verses addressed to a country clergyman complaining of the disagreeableness of the day annually appointed for receiving the dues at the parsonage. COME, ponder well, for 'tis no jest, This priest he merry is and blithe He then is full of fright and fears, For then the farmers come, jog, jog, Each heart as heavy as a log, To make their payments good. In sooth the sorrow of such days pays Are both alike distress'd. Now all unwelcome at his gates The clumsy swains alight, With rueful faces and bald pates- And well be may, for well he knows So in they come-each makes his leg, "And how does miss and madam do, The little boy and all?" "All tight and well. And how do you, Good Mr. What-d'ye-call?” The dinner comes, and down they sit : One wipes his nose upon his sleeve, One spits upon the floor, Yet, not to give offence or grieve, The punch goes round, and they are dull Like barrels with their bellies full They only weigh the heavier. At length the busy time begins. "Come, neighbours, we must wag-” The money chinks, down drop their chins, Each lugging out his bag. One talks of mildew and of frost, And one of storms of hail, Quoth one, "A rarer man than you O why are farmers made so coarse, A kick, that scarce would move a horse, Then let the boobies stay at home; "Twould cost him, I dare say, Less trouble taking twice the sum Without the clowns that pay. SONNET ADDRESSED TO HENRY COWPER, ESQ. On his emphatical and interesting delivery of the defence of Warren Hastings, Esq. in the House of Lords. COWPER, whose silver voice, task'd sometimes hard, Legends prolix delivers in the ears (Attentive when thou read'st) of England's peers, Let verse at length yield thee thy just reward. Thou wast not heard with drowsy disregard, Thou art not voice alone, but hast beside Both heart and head; and couldst with music sweet Of Attic phrase and senatorial tone, Like thy renown'd forefathers, far and wide Thy fame diffuse, praised not for utterance meet Of others' speech, but magic of thy own. |