[Page 196]

The FLIES.

1 Say, Sire of Insects, mighty Sol
2 (A Fly upon the Chariot-Pole
3 Cries out) what Blew-Bottle alive
4 Did ever with such Fury drive?
5 Tell, Belzebub, Great Father, tell
6 (Says t'other, perch'd upon the Wheel)
7 Did ever any Mortal Fly
8 Raise such a Cloud of Dust, as I?
9 My Judgment turn'd the whole Debate:
10 My Valor sav'd the sinking State.
11 So talk two idle buzzing Things;
12 Toss up their Heads, and stretch their Wings.
13 But let the Truth to Light be brought:
14 This neither spoke, nor t'other fought:
15 No Merit in their own Behav'or:
16 Both rais'd, but by their Party's Favor.

Text

  • TEI/XML [chunk] (XML - 31K / ZIP - 4.3K) / ECPA schema (RNC - 357K / ZIP - 73K)
  • Plain text [excluding paratexts] (TXT - 590 / ZIP - 560 )

Facsimile (Source Edition)

(Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [H 6.8 Art.].)

Images

PDF

All Images (PDF - 1.2M)

About this text

Title (in Source Edition): The FLIES.
Author: Matthew Prior
Themes:
Genres: epigram

Text view / Document view

Source edition

Prior, Matthew, 1664-1721. Poems on Several Occasions [English poems only]. London: Printed for JACOB TONSON at Shakespear's-Head over against Katharine-Street in the Strand, and JOHN BARBER upon Lambeth-Hill. MDCCXVIII., 1718, p. 196. [42],506,[6]p.: ill.; 2°. (ESTC T075639) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [H 6.8 Art.].)

Editorial principles

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.

Other works by Matthew Prior