ODE VII.

GAIA,

OR WILLY RHYMER'S ADDRESS TO HIS LONDON LANDLADIES .

I.

Y E landladies jolly and gay,
?Who flirt in the great London town,
Who dress and look fine every day,
?Every day brings you many a crown.
II.

Too proud your trim lodgings to shew,
?Such chambers no shelter afford,
But to him who looks spruce as a beau,
?But to him who can strut like a lord.
III.

O! hear a poor poet complain,
?With many sad sons of the quill,
How deeply their pockets you drain,
?How quickly your purses ye fill.
IV.

Awhile cease to sport in the ring,
?Perchance you are playing at loo;
Of G AIA , good G AIA , I sing,
?A landlady honest and true.
V.

Remote from the noise of a town,
?Unread in the jargon of schools,
This landlady lives in renown,
?And squares by the wisest of rules.
VI.

She toils in her own humble cot;
?The village is full of her praise;
The rustics all envy her lot;
?Her poet shall grace her with lays.
VII.

Her cottage, so decent and neat,
?Might gladden a lady most fine;
Her table, so cleanly and sweet,
?That with her a princess might dine.
VIII.

Her provident hands never spare;
?Her friends she will help to the best;
For, tho' she maintains, friends are rare,
?She soon makes a friend of her guest.
IX.

Do her guests e'er complain they are ill?
?She will act the Samaritan's part;
Tho' boasting no medical skill,
?She knows how to comfort the heart.
X.

Each Sunday at church she is seen
?With silks, and with posy so sweet,
And, as she walks over the Green,
?Each neighbour she kindly will greet.
XI.

For G AIA loves king, and her church,
?And thinks it a maxim most true,
Who leaves a poor priest in the lurch,
?Would soon rob the king of his due.
XII.

Yet hers is a catholic heart;
?Good N ONS - CONS kind G AIA can love;
To all she will kindness impart,
?As mercy she looks for above.
XIII.

She welcomes the gay-early lark;
?But she hates the rude-chattering jay:
The bird that delights in the dark,
?She says is a thief in the day.
XIV.

Her garden, tho' small, can afford
?A portion for pleasure and use;
To cousins, when seen at her board,
?She cakes, and good wine, can produce.
XV.

A neat little damsel is by,
?Who waits, and who works at her will;
A spinning-wheel always is nigh,
?That Molly may never stand still.
XVI.

She gives to each rosy-fac'd boy
?A cake, if he read his book well;
The scraps give the beggar-man joy;
?G IPSEY B ET all her praises will tell.
XVII.

Like the bee and the provident ant,
?She toils, and she spends, and she spares;
And tho' she looks shy at a cant,
?Yet G AIA will oft say her prayers.
XVIII.

Ye landladies jolly and gay,
?Give G AIA the praise that is due;
And call her, for call her you may,
?A landlady honest and true.
XIX.

And now I have finished my lays,
?To her tho' more virtues belong;
But G AIA ne'er asked for my praise,
?And, therefore, I give her a song.