What goodly monuments still appear,
20What spondyl-bulwarks are there there,
What palisaded ribs are here!
VIII.
This bold monument death defies,
Inscribèd thus, 'To mirth here lies
A trophy and a sacrifice'.
Upon a Chine of Beef.] Of doubtful authenticity. The Horatian adaptation on [pp. 356-9] perhaps confirms it, and we may note the oath (of Flatman's own coinage) at l. 138 of that poem, 'By sturdy Chine of Beef, and mighty Jove'. The text is taken from the anonymous version in Wit's Interpreter, 1655, collected by John Cotgrave: it appears on pp. 268-9 of the Love-Songs, Epigrams, &c. An inferior text in Wit and Mirth. An Antidote to Melancholy, 3rd edition, 1682, p. 102, is headed 'On a Chine of Beef. By Mr. Tho. Flatman.' If genuine, this is therefore an early effort; it might be an undergraduate flight, like the parody on Austin.
The chief variants in Wit and Mirth are:—
2 'Far longer'.