Behold, four kings in majesty rever'd,
With hoary whiskers, and a forky beard.
And four fair Queens, whose hands sustain a flow'r,
Th' expressive emblem of their softer pow'r.
Four knaves, in garb succinct, a trusty band,
Caps on their heads and halberts in their hand,
And party-coloured troops, a shining train,
Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain.
Peins-moi légèrement l'amant léger de Flore,
Qu'un doux ruisseau murmure en vers plus doux encore, etc.
In the remotest wood and lonely grot,
Certain to meet that worst of evils, thought.
Your nicer Hottentots think meet
With guts and tripe to deck their feet;
With downcast looks on Potta's legs,
The ogling youth most humbly begs,
She would not from his hopes remove
At once his breakfast and his love....
Before you see you smell your toast,
And sweetest she that stinks the most.
(Alma, livre II.)
[183]: Celui qu'on surnomma le Boucher.
[184]: Thou wilt not find my shepherdesses idly piping on oaten reeds, but milking the kine, tying up the sheaves, or if the hogs are astray, driving them to their styes. My shepherd.... sleepeth not under myrtle shades, but under hedges; nor does he vigilantly defend his flocks from wolves, because there are none.