Britain, (1662-1735)
A Pindaricque, On the Grunting of a Hog
- 1.
- Freeborn Pindaric never does refuse,
- Either a lofty, or a humble Muse:
- Now in proud Sophoclaeligan Buskins Sings,
- Of Hero’s, and of Kings,
- Mighty Numbers, mighty Things;
- Now out of sight she flys,
- Rowing with gaudy Wings
- A-cross the stormy Skys,
- Then down again,
- Her self she Flings,
- Without uneasiness, or Pain
- To Lice, and Dogs,
- To Cows, and Hogs,
- And follows their melodious grunting o’re the Plain.
- 2.
- Harmonious Hog draw near!
- No bloody Butchers here,
- Thou need’st not fear,
- Harmonious Hog draw near, and from thy beauteous Snowt
- Whilst we attend with Ear,
- Like thine prick’t up devou’t;
- To taste thy Sugry voice, which here, and there,
- With wanton Curls, vibrates around the circling Air,
- Harmonious Hog! warble some Anthem out!
- As sweet as those which quiv’ring Monks in days of Y’ore,
- With us did roar;
- When they alas,
- That the hard’hearted Abbot such a Coyl should keep,
- And cheat ’em of their first, their sweetest Sleep;
- When they were ferretted up to Midnight Mass:
- Why should not other Piggs on Organs play,
- As well as They.
- 3.
- Dear Hog! thou King of Meat!
- So near thy Lord Mankind,
- The nicest Taste can scarce a difference find!
- No more may I thy glorious Gammons eat!
- No more,
- Partake of the Free Farmers Christmas store,
- Black Puddings which with Fat would make your Mouths run o’re:
- If I, tho’ I should ne’re so long before the Sentence stay,
- And in my large Ears scale, the thing ne’re so discreetly weigh,
- If I can find a difference in the Notes,
- Belcht from the applauded Throats
- Of Rotten Play house Songsters-All-Divine,
- If any difference I can find between their Notes, and Thine:
- A Noise they keep with Tune, and out of Tune,
- And Round, and Flat,
- High, Low, and This, and That,
- That Algebra, or Thou, or I might understand as soon.
- 4.
- Like the confounding Lutes innumerable Strings,
- One of them Sings;
- Thy easier Musick’s ten times more divine;
- More like the one string’d, deep, Majestick Trump-Marine:
- Prythee strike up, and cheer this drooping Heart of Mine!
- Not the sweet Harp that’s claim’d by Jews,
- Nor that which to the far more Ancient Welch belongs,
- Nor that which the Wild Irish use,
- Frighting even their own Wolves with loud Hubbubbaboos.
- Nor Indian Dance, with Indian Songs, Nor yet,
- (Which how should I so long forget?)
- The Crown of all the rest,
- The very Cream o’th’ Jest:
- Amptuous Noble Lyre-the Tongs;
- Nor, tho’ Poetick Jordan bite his Thumbs,
- At the bold word, my Lord Mayors Flutes, and Kettle-Drums;
- Not all this Instrumental dare,
- With thy soft, ravishing, vocal Musick ever to compare.
About the Poet
Rev. Samuel Wesley, Sr. (1662-1735), British, ordained minister of the Church of England, rector of the Church of St. Andrew, Epworth in Lincolnshire, father of John and Charles Wesley — founders of Methodism — and the author of a variety of religious treatises, as well as poetry.
Wesley was also a member of the learned ‘Athenian Society,’ with brothers-in-law of John Dunton and Richard Sault, who together wrote and published the twice weekly The Athenian Mercury a periodical that resolved “all the nice and curious questions proposed by the ingenious” readers, answering them in print. [DES-6/03]