FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230  
231   232   233   234   235   236   237   238   239   240   241   242   243   244   245   246   247   248   249   250   251   252   253   254   255   >>   >|  
ne orison be sent to Jove, sir. You the famed idol will become, As gardens graced in ancient Rome, By matrons worshipp'd in the gloom of night.[1] O happy Dan! thrice happy sure! Thy fame for ever shall endure, Who after death can love secure at sight. So far I thought it was my duty To dwell upon thy boasted beauty; Now I'll proceed: a word or two t' ye in answer To that part where you carry on This paradox, that rock and stone In your opinion, are all one: How can, sir, A man of reasoning so profound So stupidly be run a-ground, As things so different to confound t'our senses? Except you judged them by the knock Of near an equal hardy block; Such an experimental stroke convinces. Then might you be, by dint of reason, A proper judge on this occasion; 'Gainst feeling there's no disputation, is granted: Therefore to thy superior wit, Who made the trial, we submit; Thy head to prove the truth of it we wanted. In one assertion you're to blame, Where Dan and Sherry's made the same, Endeavouring to have your name refined, sir: You'll see most grossly you mistook, If you consult your spelling-book, (The better half you say you took,) you'll find, sir, S, H, E, she--and R, I, ri, Both put together make Sherry; D, A, N, Dan--makes up the three syllables; Dan is but one, and Sherry two, Then, sir, your choice will never do; Therefore I've turn'd, my friend, on you the tables. [Footnote 1: Priapus, the god of procreation and fertility, both human and agricultural, whose statues, painted red, were placed in gardens. Confer Horat., Sat. I, viii, 1-8; Virg., "Georg.", iv, 110-11. In India, the same deity is to be seen in retired parts of the gardens, as he is described by Horace--"ruber porrectus ab inguine palus"--and where he is worshipped by the matrons for the same reason.--_W. E. B._] DR. DELANY'S REPLY Assist me, my Muse, while I labour to limn him. _Credite, Pisones, isti tabulae persimilem._ You look and you write with so different a grace, That I envy your verse, though I did not your face. And to him that thinks rightly, there's reason enough, 'Cause one is as smooth as the other is rough. But much I'm amazed you should think my design Was to rhyme down your nose, or your harlequin grin, Which you yourself wonder the de'el should malign. And if 'tis so strange, that your monstersh
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230  
231   232   233   234   235   236   237   238   239   240   241   242   243   244   245   246   247   248   249   250   251   252   253   254   255   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Sherry

 
reason
 

gardens

 
Therefore
 
matrons
 

malign

 

statues

 

painted

 
Confer
 
agricultural

procreation
 

syllables

 

monstersh

 

strange

 

choice

 

fertility

 

Priapus

 

Footnote

 
friend
 
tables

amazed

 

Pisones

 

design

 

tabulae

 

persimilem

 

smooth

 
thinks
 
rightly
 

Credite

 
inguine

worshipped

 
porrectus
 

harlequin

 
Horace
 
labour
 

DELANY

 
Assist
 

retired

 

assertion

 
proceed

answer

 

beauty

 

boasted

 

paradox

 

profound

 

reasoning

 
stupidly
 

things

 

ground

 

opinion