7 1

'Miscellaneous Po e m s.

'None so secure ; for Solomon says true,

Work all ■ by ■ Counsel, and you cannot rue.

•If you’ll be govern’d, and be rul’d by me,

I’ll undertake to save thy Wife and Thee ;

By my own Art against the Flood prevail,

And make no Use of either Mast or Sail.

Have you not heard how, when the World was naught,Noah by heav’nly Inspiration taught;

Ay, ay, quoth John, I’ve in my Bible found,

That once upon a T ime the World was drown’d.

Hast thou not heard how Noah was concern’dFor his dear Wife, and how his Bowels yearn’d,

’Till he had built and furniih’d out a Bark,

And lodg’d her with her Children in the Ark ?

Now, Expedition is the Soul and LifeOf Business; if you love Yourself, or Wise,

Run, fly-for in this Cafe it is a Crime

To loiter, or to lose an Inch of Time.

For Alison , yourself, and me,, provide

Three Kneading-Troughs, to fail upon the Tide :

But take more special Care that they be large,

In which a Man may swim as in a Barge.

Let them be victuall’d well, and fee you laySufficient Stores against a rainy Day ;

Enough to serve you twenty Hours, and more,

For then the Flood will ’swage, and not before.

But one Thing let me whisper in your Ear,

Let not thy sturdy Servant Robin hear,

Nor bonny Gillian know what I relate;

I must not utter the Decrees of Fate.

Alk me not Reasons why I cannot saveYour trusty Servant Maid, and honest Knave :

Suffice it thee, unless thy Wits be mad,

To have as great a Grace as Noah had.

Do you make Haste, and mind the grand Affair;

To save your Wife shall be my proper Care.

But when these Kneading-Tubs are ready made,

Which may secure us when the Floods invade;

Les