The Merry-Thought Volume I Part 6

_On a Summer-House near Farnham in Surrey._

I, C, U, B Y Y for me.

J. S.

_The Reading of it is supposed to be, _viz.__

I see you be Too wise for me.

_Star-Inn, Coventry._

Tell me where is Fancy bred? } In the Heart, or in the Head? } How begot, how nourished? }

_ANSWER_,

Had not _Celia_ come this Way, My Heart would be my own this Day, Fancy's engendered in the Eyes, With gazing fed; and Fancy dies In the same Cradle where it lies; For she's a Wh-re, and I despise.

_R. L. 1710._

_At the Leg-Tavern, Fleet-Street. We suppose an Attempt to put the Lives of Adam and Eve, and their Sons, into Verse._

Mr. _Adam_ he was, the first Man alive, And he married a fine young Gentlewoman, call'd Mrs. _Eve_.

And Mr. _Adam_ and Mrs. _Eve_, between them twain Got a pretty little Boy, called Master _Cain_.

_At the Catherine-Wheel at Henley._

_CLELIA's Epitaph, who was slander'd to Death._

Death, to vindicate her Wrongs, Gives her Fame which never dies; So the Life that died with Shame, Lives in Death with glorious Fame.

_R. S._ _Oct. 17. 1708_.

_At the same Place._

Three Bottles of _Burgundy_, and a brisk La.s.s, With a thousand of _Grigs_, should it e'er come to pa.s.s, Would make me behave my self just like an a.s.s.

_L. M._ of _Oxon_, 1709.

_From the Temple Bog-House._

No Hero looks so fierce in Fight, As does the Man who strains to sh-te.

_From the Crown at Basingstoke, which was, in Ben Johnson's Time, the Sign of the Angel, and then inhabited by Mrs. Hope, and her Daughter Prudence. As Tradition informs us, Ben Johnson was acquainted with the House; and in some Time, when he found strange People there, and the Sign changed, he wrote the following Lines._

When _Hope_ and _Prudence_ kept this House, The _Angel_ kept the Door; Now _Hope_ is dead, And the _Angel_ fled, And _Prudence_ turn'd a Wh.o.r.e.

_From the Bear at Oxford, by a Gentleman who had been affronted at the Angel._

They are all Bears at the _Angel_, And all Angels at the _Bear_.

N.B. _There are very pretty Girls at the _Bear_._

1710. _N. R._

_In a Boghouse at Richmond._

To preserve our good Health, Let us let a good F - - - t; It is better than Wealth, It will comfort your Heart: And when you have done, With the Crack of your B - - m, Bend your Knees, And then squeeze, And something will come, You'll be better, tho' it's not so big as your Thumb.

_G. S._ 1716.

_Crown at Basingstoke._

Says _Nan B----ch_ to Sir _John_, you're a scandalous Villain; D'ye think I would do what I did for a s.h.i.+lling?

In good Truth, says Sir _John_, when I find a Girl willing.

Let her take what she finds, and give Willing for Willing.

But if you insist upon Money for that, } I need not speak plainer, you know what is what, } I shall always look on you as a money-wise Cat. }

_I. E._ _July_ 17. 1713.

_Beaconsfield in a Window. I forgot the Sign._

Blow me a Kiss, says a Nymph to her Swain, And when I have got it, I'll give it again.

The Swain had been working, as sometimes Men do, Till he'd hardly got Breath for to buckle his Shoe; But turning around, he let a great F - - - t, And blow'd her a Kiss _according to Art_.

_B. R._ 1715.

_At the Swan at Chelsea, in a Summer-House Window._

_Jenny_ demure, with prudish Looks, Turns up her Eyes, and rails at naughty Folks; But in a private Room, turns up her lech'rous Tail, And kisses till she's in for Cakes and Ale.

_L. M._ _July_ 17. 1727.

_Mitre, Hampton,_ 1708.

_Celia_, the Joy of all my Parts, I kiss'd, and broke ten thousand Hearts: There's ne'er a Man the Girl will see, But dearest, dearest, dearest me.