Poetry Codex

Restoration & Augustan

Edward Moore

1712–1757

Edward Moore (1712-1757) was born at Abingdon, Berkshire, the son of a dissenting minister. He was apprenticed to a linen-draper and set up in trade in London, but his business failed and he turned to writing. His Fables for the Ladies (1744), light verse apologues on love, vanity and the manners of the town, won him wide popularity and a long afterlife in the anthologies.

Moore also wrote for the stage, notably the comedy The Foundling (1748) and the domestic tragedy The Gamester (1753), and he conducted the periodical The World (1753-56) with Lord Chesterfield and other wits. This selection follows the verse in the 1782 Bell's Poets edition: the sixteen Fables, two Odes, the satirical and occasional pieces of the Miscellanies, and the Songs.

Poems (39)

  1. The Eagle and the Assembly of Birds (Fable I)
  2. The Panther, the Horse, and Other Beasts (Fable II)
  3. The Nightingale and Glow-worm (Fable III)
  4. Hymen and Death (Fable IV)
  5. The Poet and His Patron (Fable V)
  6. The Wolf, the Sheep, and the Lamb (Fable VI)
  7. The Goose and the Swans (Fable VII)
  8. The Lawyer and Justice (Fable VIII)
  9. The Farmer, the Spaniel, and the Cat (Fable IX)
  10. The Spider and the Bee (Fable X)
  11. The Young Lion and the Ape (Fable XI)
  12. The Colt and the Farmer (Fable XII)
  13. The Owl and the Nightingale (Fable XIII)
  14. The Sparrow and the Dove (Fable XIV)
  15. The Female Seducers (Fable XV)
  16. Love and Vanity (Fable XVI)
  17. The Discovery, an Ode
  18. Ode, to Garrick, upon the Talk of the Town
  19. The Trial of Selim the Persian, for Divers High Crimes and Misdemeanours
  20. The Trial of Sarah ****, Alias Slim Sal, for Privately Stealing
  21. Envy and Fortune, a Tale
  22. The Humble Petition of the Worshipful Company of Poets and Newswriters (to the Right Hon. Henry Pelham)
  23. The Lover and the Friend
  24. A Hymn to Poverty
  25. Prologue Spoken by Mr. Woodward
  26. An Elegy Written among the Ruins of a Nobleman's Seat in Cornwal
  27. Thus I said to my heart in a pet th' other day (Song I)
  28. Be still O ye Winds! and attentive ye Swains (Song II)
  29. As Phillis the gay at the break of the day (Song III)
  30. Let rakes for pleasure range the Town (Song IV)
  31. Stand round my brave Boys! with heart and with voice (Song V)
  32. To make the wife kind and to keep the house still (Song VI)
  33. Hark, hark! o'er the plains how the merry bells ring (Song VII)
  34. That Jenny's my friend, my delight, and my pride (Song VIII)
  35. You tell me I 'm handsome, I know not how true (Song IX)
  36. How blest has my time been, whatdays have I known (Song X)
  37. Hark, hark! 't is a voice from the tomb (Song XI)
  38. For a shape, and a bloom, and an air, and a mien (Song XII)
  39. When Damon languish'd at my feet (Song XIII)

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