Colley Cibber (1671 – 1757)
English actor, playwright, Poet Laureate, first British actor-manager, and head Dunce of Alexander Pope's Dunciad.
Persuasion tips his tongue whene'er he talks,
And he has chambers in King's Bench walks.
The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome
Outlives in fame the pious fool that rais'd it.
Old houses mended,
Cost little less than new before they're ended.
Possession is eleven points in the law.
This business will never hold water.
With clink of hammers closing rivets up.
And the ripe harvest of the new-mown hay
Gives it a sweet and wholesome odour.
Prithee don’t screw your wit beyond the compass of good manners.
I 've lately had two spiders
Crawling upon my startled hopes.
Now though thy friendly hand has brush'd 'em from me,
Yet still they crawl offensive to my eyes:
I would have some kind friend to tread upon 'em.
Our hours in love have wings; in absence, crutches.
So mourn'd the dame of Ephesus her love,
And thus the soldier arm'd with resolution
Told his soft tale, and was a thriving wooer.
Tea! Thou soft, thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid, thou innocent pretence for bringing the wicked of both sexes together in a morning; thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing, heart- opening, wink-tipping cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate thus, and ... adore thee.
Then let not what I cannot have
My cheer of mind destroy.
Whilst thus I sing, I am a king,
Although a poor blind boy!
A weak invention of the enemy.
Now, by St. Paul, the work goes bravely on.
We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed woman,—scorned, slighted, dismissed without a parting pang.