Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/239

Rh As far as alleys beyond taws we prize , Or venison pasty ranks above school pies; As much as peaches beyond apples please, Or Parmesan excells a Suffolk cheese; Or Palgrave donkeys lag behind a steed,— So far do Anna's charms all other charms exceed. Tell, if thou canst, where is that creature bred, Whose wide-stretched mouth is larger than its head: Guess, and my great Apollo thou shalt be , And cake and ship shall both remain with thee. Explain thou first, what portent late was seen, With strides impetuous, posting o'er the green; Three heads, like Cerberus, the monster bore, And one was sidelong fixed, and two before;