[Page 45]

A SIMILE.

By the Same.
1 WHAT village but has often seen
2 The clumsy shape, the frightful mien,
3 Tremendous claws, and shagged hair,
4 Of that grim brute, yclep'd a Bear?
5 He from his dam, as wits agree,
6 Receiv'd the curious form you see;
7 Who with her plastic tongue alone
8 Produc'd a visage like her own.
9 By which they hint, in mystic fashion,
10 The powerful force of education.
11 Perhaps yon rural tribe is viewing,
12 E'en now, the strange exploits of Bruin;
13 Who plays his anticks, roars aloud,
14 The wonder of a gaping crowd!
15 So have I known an aukward lad,
16 Whose birth has made a parish glad,
[Page 46]
17 Forbid, for fear of sense, to roam;
18 And taught by kind mamma at home;
19 Who gives him many a well-try'd rule,
20 With ways and means — to play the fool.
21 In sense the same, in stature higher,
22 He shines, ere long, a rural squire;
23 Pours forth unwitty jokes, and swears,
24 And bawls and drinks — but chiefly stares!
25 His tenants of superior sense
26 Carouse and laugh at his expence;
27 And sure the pastime I'm relating
28 Must prove as pleasant as Bear-baiting.

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Title (in Source Edition): A SIMILE.
Author: William Shenstone
Themes: domestic life; family; animals
Genres:
References: DMI 27238

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. V. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 45-46. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.005) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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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.

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