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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  An Ode to Lord Lincoln

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

An Ode to Lord Lincoln

By Sir Charles Hanbury Williams (1708–1759)
 
(1744)

O LINCOLN! joy of womankind!
To you this humble ode’s designed:
  Let —— inspire my song:
Gods! with what powers are you endu’d!
Tiberius was not half so lewd,        5
  Nor Hercules so strong.
 
’Tis —— now my pen employs,
And since I sing of heav’nly joys,
  From heaven my notes I’ll bring;
And tho’ the lyric strain I chuse,        10
I’ll open like the Mantuan muse—
  “——, and the man I sing.”
 
But don’t expect much flattery
From such an honest bard as me,
  Dear, noble, vigorous youth;        15
For when I say that you —— more
Than ever mortal did before,
  You know I say the truth.
 
Four times a night, some happy fair,
You —— throughout the gliding year,        20
  This course of joy pursuing;
Of feats like these what annals speak,
’Tis eight and twenty times a week,
  And, Faith! that’s glorious doing.
 
Had Messalina —— with you,        25
Whom no then man could e’er subdue,
  Tho’ many a Roman tried:
She’d own your vigor and your charms,
And, melting, dying in your arms,
  Cry’d out —— “I’m satisfied!”        30
 
Then still love on with loosen’d reins,
While youth is boiling in your veins,
  And sparkles in your face;
With w—— be lewd, with Whigs be hearty,
And both in ——, and in party,        35
  Confess your noble race.
 
To you and steady Pelham then,
With joy I’ll dedicate my pen,
  For both shall be my theme;
Since both divided England share,        40
You have the love of every fair,
  He every man’s esteem.