Lines Suggested By Ode XXIX. Book I. Of Horace

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To ANTONIO PANIZZI, ESQ. AS THE WORTHY OCCASION, AND TO THE REV. CHRISTOPHER ERLE, AS THE PROMPT THROWER-OUT OF THE QUOTATION WHENCE IT HAS SPRUNG, THIS MERE TRIFLE IS INSCRIBED.


  And so, dear Hicks! on "Nature's wealth"
  Your new-found phrase—and rustic health
  Intent, and cottage-life;
  You scheme from town to steal away,
  And chain yourself, or so they say,
  To that grave joy—a wife.
  What parish girl shall find employ
  To deck the bride? what louting boy
  Lead out the one-horse chair,
  When, just at noon-day, forth you ride,
  Correctly spousal, side by side,
  And sadly take the air?

  And can it be, dear Hicks! that you
  For such dull raptures would eschew
  The life we lead in town?
  No, Hicks! I'd just as soon believe
  One might hold water in a sieve,
  Or make up-Thames run down,
  As you desert the volumes rare
  Panizzi buys up every where,
  Or gets by hooks and crooks;
  Or bear to lose your daily walk
  To the Museum, and his talk,
  Still better than his books.

© John Kenyon