Epigram on the Toasts of the Kit-Cat Club. Poems: 1713-17. Alexander Pope. 1903. Complete Poetical Works

Alexander Pope (1688–1744). Complete Poetical Works. 1903.

Poems: 1713–17

Epigram on the Toasts of the Kit-Cat Club


Anno 1716 WHENCE deathless ‘Kit-cat’ took its name,
Few critics can unriddle:
Some say from ‘Pastrycook’ it came,
And some, from ‘cat’ and ‘fiddle.’

From no trim Beaux its name it boasts,	5
Gray Statesmen, or green wits;
But from this pellmell pack of Toasts
Of old ‘cats’ and young ‘kits.’