[Page 122]

To GRAMMATICUS.

SIR,
1 MIRA wou'd with Tears atone
2 For all the Mischief she has done;
3 Sincerely mourns (believe it true)
4 The sending of her Rhymes to you.
5 The Wound my Verses gave your Ear,
6 Was undesign'd it will appear;
7 Nor in the least the Fault of me,
8 As by this Sorrow you may see.
9 And cou'd I in our Meadows find,
10 Among the vegetable Kind,
11 A healing Simple, that wou'd cure
12 Those smarting Pangs which you endure:
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13 Whose Juice the Matrons well esteem
14 For Cuts and Bruises that are green,
15 I'd send it with an Heart most willing,
16 Tho' it shou'd cost me half a Shilling:
17 Yet I can serve you but in Will,
18 For I've consulted Doctor Pill,
19 Who tells me that a Case like yours
20 Will not admit of common Cures;
21 For that Incisions made by Rhymes
22 Are worse than Ulcers fifty times:
23 He gives a Reason that is clear,
24 Because they always strike the Ear,
25 And give un-utterable Pain
26 To the small Fibres of the Brain:
27 Yet as the Doctor is my Friend,
28 His Worship order'd me to send
29 This grand Receipt which he has known,
30 To serve in Cases like your own:
31 Tis true, the Drug is something rare,
32 And yet I wou'd not quite despair;
33 But hope the Med'cine may be found
34 Within the Space of British Ground:
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35 This Balsam then I'd have you seek,
36 No matter for its Name in Greek;
37 But sure 'tis call'd (or I am wrong)
38 Good-nature in the English Tongue:
39 The Doctor swears by all his Skill,
40 If this don't ease you, nothing will;
41 To either Ear be this apply'd,
42 (The better if 'tis quickly try'd)
43 Then fill the hollow Spaces full
44 With Aqua-vitoe drop'd on Wool:
45 And take a special Care be sure,
46 No Poets come about your Door:
47 For you might keep the Bench of Law,
48 Or hear the squeaking of a Saw,
49 More safely by a hundred times,
50 Than half a Page of modern Rhymes:
51 But when you gather Strength a little,
52 Can walk abroad and eat your Vittle?
53 As you are mighty fond of Verse,
54 Let some with gentle Voice rehearse:
55 How Corn grows now where Troy Town stood,
56 Or else the Children in the Wood:
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57 These gentle Numbers will compose
58 Your Spirits and your Eye-lids close!
59 Those Slumbers will complete the Cure;
60 Now, Sir, your Servant, and — no more.

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Title (in Source Edition): To GRAMMATICUS.
Author: Mary Leapor
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Genres: address

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Leapor, Mrs. (Mary), 1722-1746. Poems upon several occasions: By Mrs. Leapor of Brackley in Northamptonshire. London: printed: and sold by J. Roberts, 1748, pp. 122-125. 15,[5],282p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T127827; Foxon p. 413; OTA K101776.000) (Page images digitized from a copy at University of California Libraries.)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Mary Leapor