Presumptous Maid! with looks intent Eight times emerging from the flood No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirred: From hence, ye Beauties, undeceived, Not all that tempts your wandering eyes Nor all that glisters, gold. Thomas Gray [1716–1771] VERSES ON A CAT CLUBBY! thou surely art, I ween, Thou seek'st thy professorial chair, And so demure thy face is! And as thou sit'st, thine eye seems fraught With such intensity of thought That could we read it, knowledge Would seem to breathe in every mew, And learning yet undreamt by you Who dwell in Hall or College. Epitaph on a Hare Oh! when in solemn taciturnity Thy brain seems wandering through eternity, Could I then catch the thoughts that flow, Oh then, throughout the livelong day, And in thy face, as from a book, Nor fear the lapse of time. 1823 Charles Daubeny (1745-1827] EPITAPH ON A HARE HERE lies, whom hound did ne'er pursue, Old Tiney, surliest of his kind, Who, nursed with tender care, And to domestic bounds confined, Was still a wild Jack-hare. Though duly from my hand he took His pittance every night, He did it with a jealous look, And, when he could, would bite. His diet was of wheaten bread, And milk, and oats, and straw; Thistles, or lettuces instead, With sand to scour his maw. On twigs of hawthorn he regaled, Sliced carrot pleased him well. A Turkey carpet was his lawn, His frisking was at evening hours, But most before approaching showers, Eight years and five round-rolling moons I kept him for his humor's sake, My heart of thoughts that made it ache, But now, beneath this walnut-shade He finds his long, last home, He, still more agèd, feels the shocks William Cowper [1731-1800] ON THE DEATH OF MRS. THROCKMORTON'S YE Nymphs! if e'er your eyes were red (What will not hunger's cruel rage?) Assassined by a thief. 1825 On the Death of a Bullfinch Where Rhenus strays his vines among, Or only with a whistle blessed, The honors of his ebon poll Were brighter than the sleekest mole; With which Aurora decks the skies, Above, below, in all the house, No cat had leave to dwell; Well-latticed, but the grate, alas! But smooth with wands from Ouse's side, Night veiled the pole-all seemed secure- A beast forth sallied on the scout, He, entering at the study-door, And something in the wind Conjectured, sniffing round and round, Better than all the books he found, Food, chiefly, for the mind. Just then, by adverse fate impressed A rat, fast-clinging to the cage, For, aided both by ear and scent, Minute the horror that ensued; His teeth were strong, the cage was wood- O had he made that too his prey! Might have repaid him well, I wote, Maria weeps, the Muses mourn;- The cruel death he died. William Cowper [1731-1800] AN ELEGY ON A LAP-DOG SHOCK'S fate I mourn; poor Shock is now no more: |