Three duels he fought, thrice ventur'd his life;
Went home, and was cudgell'd again by his wife.
[Footnote 1: Collated with copy transcribed by
Stella.--_Forster_.]
EPIGRAM ADDED BY STELLA[1]
When Margery chastises Ned,
She calls it combing of his head;
A kinder wife was never born:
She combs his head, and finds him horn.
[Footnote 1: From Stella's copy in the Duke of Bedford's
volume.--_Forster._]
JOAN CUDGELS NED
Joan cudgels Ned, yet Ned's a bully;
Will cudgels Bess, yet Will's a cully.
Die Ned and Bess; give Will to Joan,
She dares not say her life's her own.
Die Joan and Will; give Bess to Ned,
And every day she combs his head.
VERSES ON TWO CELEBRATED MODERN POETS
Behold, those monarch oaks, that rise
With lofty branches to the skies,
Have large proportion'd roots that grow
With equal longitude below:
Two bards that now in fashion reign,
Most aptly this device explain:
If this to clouds and stars will venture,
That creeps as far to reach the centre;
Or, more to show the thing I mean,
Have you not o'er a saw-pit seen
A skill'd mechanic, that has stood
High on a length of prostrate wood,
Who hired a subterraneous friend
To take his iron by the end;
But which excell'd was never found,
The man above or under ground.
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