To Quilca, A Country-House in no very good Repair

  Let me thy Properties explain,

  A rotten Cabin, dropping Rain;

  Chimnies with Scorn rejecting Smoak;

  Stools, Tables, Chairs, and Bed-steds broke:

  Here Elements have lost their Vses,

  Air ripens not, nor Earth produces:

  In vain we make poor Sheelah toil,

  Fire will not roast, nor Water boil.

  Thro' all the Vallies, Hills, and Plains,

The Goddess Want in Triumph reigns;

And her chief Officers of State,

Sloth, Dirt, and Theft around her wait.

NOTESForm: couplets Composition Date:1725