Matthew Prior

"My Lord, Our weekly friends to-morrow meet At Matthew's palace in Duke-street, To try for once if they can dine On bacon-ham and mutton-chine. If"

"Bless'd be the princes who have fought For pompous names or wide dominion, Since by their error we are taught That happiness is but opinion."

"Beneath a Myrtle's verdant Shade As Cloe half asleep was laid, Cupid perch'd lightly on Her Breast, And in That Heav'n desir'd to rest: Over her P"

"Fire, Water, Woman, are Man's Ruin; Says wise Professor Vander Bruin. By Flames a House I hir'd was lost Last Year: and I must pay the Cost. This"

"Of thy judicious Muse's sense, Young Hinchinbroke so very proud is, That Sacharissa and Hortense She looks henceforth upon as dowdies. Yet she to"

"Farewell, Amynta, we must part; The charm has lost its power Which held so fast my captived heart Until this fatal hour. Hadst thou not thus my l"

"The merchant, to secure his treasure, Conveys it in a borrowed name: Euphelia serves to grace my measure; But Chloe is my real Flame. My softest"

"To the tune of King John and the Abbot of Canterbury. Who has e'er been at Paris must needs know the Greve, The fatal retreat of th' unfortunate br"

"As Cloe came into the Room t'other Day, I peevish began; Where so long cou'd You stay? In your Life-time You never regarded your Hour: You promis'd"

"Sure Cloe Just, and Cloe Fair Deserves to be Your only Care: But when You and She to-day Far into the Wood did stray, And I happen'd to pass by;"

"Heavy, O Lord, on my thy judgements lie; Accursed I am while God rejects my cry. O'erwhelm'd in darkness and despair I groan, And every place is he"

"Did sweeter Sounds adorn my flowing Tongue, Than ever Man pronounc'd, or Angel sung: Had I all Knowledge, Human and Divine, That Thought can reach,"

"Phillis, this pious talk give o'er, And modesty pretend no more, It is too plain an art: Surely you take me for a fool, And would by this prove me"

"O Death how thou spoil'st the best project of life, Said Gabriel, who still as he bury'd one wife, For the sake of her family married her cousin; A"

"Will Piggot must to Coxwould go, To live, alas! in want, Unless Sir Thomas say, No, no, Th' allowance is too scant. The gracious knight full well"

"Since, Moggy, I mun bid adieu, How can I help despairing? Let cruel Fate us still pursue, There's nought more worth my caring. 'Twas she alone co"

"Let perjured fair Amynta know What for her sake I undergo; Tell her, for her how I sustain A lingering fever's wasting pain; Tell her the torments"

"Spare, generous victor, spare the slave, Who did unequal war pursue; That more than triumph he might have, In being overcome by you. In the dispu"

"How long, deluded Albion, wilt thou lie In the lethargic sleep, the sad repose By which thy close thy constant enemy Has softly lull'd thee to thy"

"Since we your husband daily see So jealous out of season, Phillis, let you and I agree To make him so with reason. I'm vex'd to think that every"

"Lie Philo untouch'd, on my peaceable shelf, Nor take it amiss that so little I heed thee; I've no envy to thee, and some love to myself: Then why s"

"Upon the Model of The Nut-Brown Maid. To Cloe. Thou, to whose eyes I bend, at whose command (Though low my voice, though artless be my hand. I tak"

"How old may Phyllis be, you ask, Whose beauty thus all hearts engages? To answer is no easy task; For she has really two ages. Stiff in brocard,"

"Que fais tu bergere dans ce beau verger Tu ne songe gueres a me soulager? Tu connois ma flamme, tu vois ma langueur, Prens belle inhumaine pitie de"

"Whither would my passion run? Shall I fly her, or pursue her? Losing her I am undone, Yet would not gain her to undo her. Ye tyrants of the human"

"Quoth Richard in jest looking wistly at Nelly, Methinks child you seem something round in the belly. Nell answer'd him snappishly, how can that be,"

"Strephonetta, why d'ye fly me, With such rigour in your eyes: Oh! 'tis cruel to deny me, Since your charms I so much prize. But I plainly see the"

"Matthew met Richard, when or where From story is not mighty clear: Of many knotty points they spoke, And pro and con by turns they took: Rats half"

"Whilst others proclaim This nymph or that swain, Dearest Nelly the lovely I'll sing: She shall grace every verse, I'll her beauties rehearse, Whi"

"Nobles and Heralds, by your leave! Here lie the bones of Matthew Prior; A son of Adam and Eve: Let Bourbon or Nassau go higher."

"Poor Hal caught his death standing under a spout Expecting till midnight when Nan would come out; But fatal his patience, as cruel the dame, And cu"

"Releas'd from the noise of the butcher and baker Who, my old friends be thanked, did seldom forsake her, And from the soft duns of my landlord the Q"

"The circling months begin this day To run their yearly ring, And long-breathed time, which ne'er will stay, Refits his wings and shoots away, It r"

"Reader, I was born, and cried; I crack'd, I smelt, and so I died. Like Julius Caesar's was my death, Who in the senate lost his breath. Much alike"

"Democritus, dear droll, revisit earth, And with our follies glut thy heighten'd mirth: Sad Heraclitus, serious wretch, return, In louder grief our"

"When great Augustus govern'd ancient Rome, And sent his conquering bands to foreign wars, Abroad when dreaded, and beloved at home, He saw his fame"

"As doctors give physic by way of prevention, Matt., alive and in health, of his tombstone take care; For delays are unsafe, and his pious intention"

"But shall we take the Muse abroad, To drop her idly on the road, And leave our subject in the middle, As Butler did his Bear and Fiddle? Yet he, c"

"Dear Thomas, didst thou never pop Thy head into a tin-man's shop? There, Thomas, didst thou never see ('Tis but by way of simile) A squirrel spend"

"Richard, who now was half asleep, Roused, nor would longer silence keep; And sense like this, in vocal breath, Broke from his twofold hedge of teet"

"I, My dear, was born to-day So all my jolly comrades say: They bring me music, wreaths, and mirth, And ask to celebrate my birth: Little, alas! m"

"At dead of night, when stars appear, And strong Bootes turns the Bear, When mortals sleep their cares away, Fatigued with labours of the day, Cupi"

"Dear Howard, from the soft assaults of love Poets and painters never are secure; Can I untouch'd the fair one's passions move, Or thou draw beauty,"

"Yes, fairest Proof of Beauty's Pow'r, Dear Idol of My panting Heart, Nature points This my fatal Hour: And I have liv'd; and We must part. While"

"The pride of every grove I chose, The violet sweet and lily fair, The dappled pink and blushing rose, To deck my charming Cloe's hair. At morn th"

"Dear Cloe, how blubber'd is that pretty Face? Thy Cheek all on Fire, and Thy Hair all uncurl'd: Pr'ythee quit this Caprice; and (as old Falstaf says"

"When famed Varelst this little wonder drew, Flora vouchsafed the growing works to view; Finding the painter's science at a stand, The goddess snatc"

"Say, sire of insects, mighty Sol, (A fly upon the chariot-pole Cries out) What blue-bottle alive Did ever with such fury drive? Tell Beelzebub, gr"

"Hans Carvel, impotent and old, Married a lass of London mould. Handsome? Enough; extremely gay; Loved music, company, and play: High flights she h"

"Dulce est desipere in loco. I Some Folks are drunk, yet do not know it: So might not Bacchus give You Law? Was it a Muse, O lofty Poet, Or Virg"

"In vain you tell your parting lover You wish fair winds may waft him over Alas! what winds can happy prove That bear me far from what I love? Alas"

"In Heav'n, one Holy-day, You read In wise Anacreon, Ganymede Drew heedless Cupid in, to throw A Main, to pass an Hour, or so. The little Trojan, b"

"Dear Dick, how e'er it comes into his head, Believes, as firmly as he does his creed, That you and I, sir, are extremely great; Though I plain Mat,"

"Say, dearest Villiers, poor departed friend, (Since fleeting life thus suddenly must end) Say, what did all thy busy hopes avail, That anxious thou"

"Since hired for life, thy servile Muse must sing Successive conquests and a glorious King; Must of a man immortal vainly boast, And bring him laure"

"Sly Merry Andrew, the last Southwark fair; (At Bartholomew he did not much appear, So peevish was the dict of the Mayor) At Southwark, therefore, a"

"Behind an unfrequented glade, Where yew and myrtle mix their shade, A widow Turtle pensive sat, And wept her murder'd lover's fate. The Sparrow ch"

"While cruel Nero only drains The moral Spaniard's ebbing veins, By study worn, and slack with age, How dull, how thoughtless is his rage! Heighten"

"You, Madam, may, with safety go Decrees of destiny to know; For at your birth kind planets reign'd, And certain happiness ordain'd: Such charms as"

"Yes, every poet is a fool; By demonstration, Ned can show it: Happy could Ned's inverted rule Prove every fool to be a poet."