[Page 171]

To the Right Hon. the Earl of Orrery
[ed.] John Boyle (13 January 1707 - 16 November 1762), writer and friend of Swift, Pope, and Johnson. (AH)
, on his Promise to sup with the Author.

1 Tho' the Muse had deny'd me so often before,
2 I ventur'd this Day to invoke her once more.
3 She ask'd what I wanted; I said, with Delight,
4 Your Lordship had promis'd to sup here To-night;
5 That on an Occasion so much to my Honour,
6 I hop'd she'd excuse me for calling upon her.
7 To this she reply'd, with Disdain in her Looks:
8 If that be the Case, go summon your Cooks.
9 I told her in Answer, How little you eat;
10 That in vain I should hope to regale you with Meat;
11 That she knew, Wit and Humour to you were a Feast,
12 Who had, tho' no Stomach, an excellent Taste.
[Page 172]
13 This calm'd her Resentment; she paus'd for a while
14 Then the Goddess, propitious, reply'd with a Smile:
15 If with Humour and Wit you would have him delighted.
16 What need I be call'd? Let the Dean be invited.
17 The Bus'ness is done, if with him you prevail;
18 For a Boyle, and a Swift, will each other regale.
Capel-street, Dublin, Jan. 24. 1732.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): To the Right Hon. the Earl of Orrery, on his Promise to sup with the Author.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: food; drink
Genres: epistle
References: DMI 11582

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Source edition

Barber, Mary, ca. 1690-1757. Poems on Several Occasions [poems only]. London: Printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1734, pp. 171-172. xlviii,283,[7]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T42622; DMI 519; Foxon p. 45) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 3644].)

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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. 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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