To the Right Honourable John Barber, Esq; Lord Mayor of London, on Committing One of my Sons to His Care.
To the late King of Britain a Savage was brought,
Which wild in the Woods of Germania was caught.
This Present so princely was train’d up with Care;
And knew how to eat, and to jump, and to stare;
The Beaux, and the Belles, beheld it with Joy;
And at Court the high Mode was to see the Wild Boy.
Reflecting on this, with a politic View,
I determin’d to send such a Present to You.
In the Wilds of Hibernia this Boy was beset,
And caught (as the Natives are there) in a Net:
The Creature has Sense, and, in my Eyes, is pretty,
With Talents to make a good Man in the City;
Industrious, and orderly, prudent, and smart,
And not too much Conscience, nor too little Art;
Not scrup’lous, but honest, a Heart set on Gain,
Whose highest Ambition is fix’d on the Chain.
From You may he copy to wear it with Glory;
Like You, in Return—be honour’d in Story.
