[Page 117]

The MONKIES,

a TALE.

By the Same.
1 WHOE'ER with curious eye has rang'd
2 Thro' Ovid's tales, has seen
3 How Jove, incens'd, to monkies chang'd
4 A tribe of worthless men.
5 Repentant soon th' offending race
6 Intreat the injur'd pow'r,
7 To give them back the human face,
8 And reason's aid restore.
9 Jove, sooth'd at length, his ear inclin'd,
10 And granted half their pray'r;
11 But t'other half he bade the wind
12 Disperse in empty air.
13 Scarce had the thund'rer giv'n the nod
14 That shook the vaulted skies,
15 With haughtier air the creatures strode,
16 And stretch'd their dwindled size.
[Page 187]
17 The hair in curls luxuriant now
18 Around their temples spread;
19 The tail that whilom hung below,
20 Now dangled from the head.
21 The head remains unchang'd within,
22 Nor alter'd much the face;
23 It still retains its native grin,
24 And all its old grimace.
25 Thus half transform'd and half the same,
26 Jove bade them take their place,
27 (Restoring them their ancient claim)
28 Among the human race.
29 Man with contempt the brute survey'd,
30 Nor would a name bestow;
31 But woman lik'd the motley breed,
32 And call'd the thing a Beau.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): The MONKIES, a TALE.
Author: James Merrick
Themes: manners; fashion
Genres: ballad metre; Chevy Chase stanza; satire
References: DMI 19516

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. IV. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 117-187. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.004) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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