Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ADVICE TO A PARSON; EPIGRAM, by JONATHAN SWIFT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ADVICE TO A PARSON; EPIGRAM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Would you rise in the church, be stupid and dull
Last Line: Be as poxed and profane as fanatical hort.
Subject(s): Clergy; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops


Would you rise in the church, be stupid and dull,
Be empty of learning, of insolence full:
Though lewd and immoral, be formal and grave,
In flattery an artist, in fawning a slave,
No merit, no science, no virtue is wanting
In him, that's accomplished in cringing and canting:
Be studious to practise true meanness of spirit;
For who but Lord Bolton was mitred for merit?
Would you wish to be wrapped in a rochet -- in short,
Be as poxed and profane as fanatical Hort.





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