At six years old the subtle jade
Stole to the pantry door, and found
The butler with my lady's maid:
And you may swear the tale went round.
She made a song, how little miss
Was kiss'd and slobber'd by a lad:
And how when master went to p—,
Miss came, and peep'd at all he had.
At twelve a wit and a coquette;
Marries for love, half whore, half wife;
Cuckolds, elopes, and runs in debt;
Turns authoress, and is Curll's for life.
Her common-place book all gallant is,
Of scandal now a cornucopia;
She pours it out in Atalantis[1],
Or memoirs of the New Utopia.
TOLAND'S INVITATION TO DISMAL,
[2]TO DINE WITH THE CALF'S-HEAD CLUB[3].
Imitated from Horace, Lib. I. Epist. 5.
IF, dearest Dismal, you for once can dine
Upon a single dish, and tavern wine,
- ↑ Written by Mrs. Manley.
- ↑ SI potes Archaicis conviva recumbere lectis,
Nec modicà cœnare times olus omne patellâ,
- ↑ This poem, and that which follows it, are two of the penny papers mentioned in Swift's Journal to Stella, Aug. 7, 1712. They are printed from folio copies in the Lambeth Library.
