FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  
le you got and you gave! How did Grub-street re-echo the shouts that you raised, When he was be-Roscius'd and you were bepraised! But peace to his spirit, wherever it flies, To act as an angel, and mix with the skies! Those poets who owe their best fame to his skill, Shall still be his flatterers, go where he will; Old Shakespeare receive him with praise and with love, And Beaumonts and Bens be his Kellys above. Here Hickey reclines, a most blunt, pleasant creature, And Slander itself must allow him good-nature: He cherish'd his friend, and he relish'd a bumper: Yet one fault he had, and that one was a thumper. Perhaps you may ask if the man was a miser? I answer, no, no, for he always was wiser. Too courteous, perhaps, or obligingly flat? His very worst foe can't accuse him of that. Perhaps he confided in men as they go, And so was too foolishly honest? Ah no! Then what was his failing? Come, tell it, and burn ye,-- He was, could he help it? a special attorney. Here Reynolds is laid, and to tell you my mind, He has not left a wiser or better behind: His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand: His manners were gentle, complying, and bland; Still born to improve us in every part, His pencil our faces, his manners our heart: To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering, When they judged without skill he was still hard of hearing: When they talk'd of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff, He shifted his trumpet, and only took snuff. XLII. THE LOGICIANS REFUTED. This piece was first printed in _The Busy Body_ in 1759, in direct imitation of the style of Swift. It was, therefore, improperly included in the Dublin edition of Swift's works, and in the edition of Swift edited by Sir Walter Scott. Logicians have but ill defined As rational the human mind, Reason they say belongs to man, But let them prove it if they can, Wise Aristotle and Smiglesius By ratiocinations specious Have strove to prove with great precision, With definition and division, _Homo est ratione preditum_; But for my soul I cannot credit 'em. And must in spite of them maintain, That man and all his ways are vain: And that this boasted lord of nature Is both a weak and erring creature. That instinct is a surer guide Than reason, boasting mortals' pride; And that brute beasts are far before 'em, _Deus est anima br
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
edition
 

Perhaps

 

nature

 
creature
 

pencil

 

manners

 

Raphaels

 

Dublin

 

hearing

 

Correggios


civilly

 
Walter
 

averse

 
steering
 
judged
 

edited

 

shifted

 

improperly

 

LOGICIANS

 

printed


REFUTED

 

direct

 

included

 

imitation

 

trumpet

 
boasted
 

erring

 

credit

 

maintain

 

instinct


beasts

 

reason

 
boasting
 

mortals

 

Reason

 

belongs

 

Aristotle

 

coxcombs

 

rational

 

defined


Smiglesius
 
division
 

definition

 

ratione

 

preditum

 
precision
 

specious

 
ratiocinations
 
strove
 

Logicians