Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner at Dr. Baker’s
YOUR mandate I got,You may all go to pot;Had your senses been right,You’d have sent before night;As I hope to be saved,I put off being shaved;For I could not make bold,While the matter was cold,To meddle in suds,Or to put on my duds;So tell Horneck and Nesbitt,And Baker and his bit,And Kauffmann beside,And the Jessamy Bride,With the rest of the crew,The Reynoldses two,Little Comedy’s face,And the Captain in lace,(By-the-bye you may tell him,I have something to sell him;Of use I insist,When he comes to enlist.Your worships must knowThat a few days ago,An order went out,For the foot guards so stoutTo wear tails in high taste,Twelve inches at least:Now I’ve got him a scaleTo measure each tail,To lengthen a short tail,And a long one to curtail.)—Yet how can I when vext,Thus stray from my text?Tell each other to rueYour Devonshire crew,For sending so lateTo one of my state.But ’tis Reynolds’s wayFrom wisdom to stray,And Angelica’s whimTo be frolick like him,But, alas! Your good worships, how could they be wiser,When both have been spoil’d in to-day’s Advertiser?
Words in this poem
- meddle v. i.
- To mix; to mingle. [OE. medlen to mix, OF. medler, mesler, F. mêler, LL. misculare, a dim. fr. L. miscere to mix. Mix, and cf. Medley, Mellay.]
- suds n.
- Water impregnated with soap, esp. when worked up into bubbles and froth. In the suds, in turmoil or difficulty. Beau. & Fl. [Akin to sodden, seethe. See Seethe.]
- duds n.
- Old or inferior clothes; tattered garments. [Scot. dud rag, pl. duds clothing of inferior quality.]
- insist v. i.
- To stand or rest; to find support; -- with in, on, or upon. [F. insister, L. insistere to set foot upon, follow, persist; pref. in- in + sistere to stand, cause to stand. See Stand.]
- enlist v. t.
- To enter on a list; to enroll; to register.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- curtail v. t.
- To cut off the end or tail, or any part, of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; to reduce. [See Curtal.]
- advertiser n.
- One who, or that which, advertises.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner at Dr. Baker’s is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Project Gutenberg ebook #3545; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Goldsmith, Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner at Dr. Baker’s, in Poems (1764–1774), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3545, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/goldsmith-poems/verses-in-reply-to-an-invitation-to-dinner-at-dr-baker-s.html, id L00453.
Form and metre
Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner at Dr. Baker’s is 44 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 91% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII--JJKKLL--MMMMNNOOPPQQRRSS gotA · potA · rightB · nightB · savedC · shavedC · boldD · coldD · sudsE · dudsE · nesbittF · bitF · besideG · brideG · crewH · twoH · faceI · laceI · him · him · insistJ · enlistJ · knowK · agoK · outL · stoutL · taste · least · scaleM · tailM · tailM · curtailM · vextN · textN · rueO · crewO · lateP · stateP · wayQ · strayQ · whimR · himR · wiserS · advertiserS
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| YOUR mandate I got, | 5 | ·/··· |
| You may all go to pot; | 6 | ······ |
| Had your senses been right, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| You’d have sent before night; | 6 | ······ |
| As I hope to be saved, | 6 | ······ |
| I put off being shaved; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For I could not make bold, | 6 | ······ |
| While the matter was cold, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| To meddle in suds, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Or to put on my duds; | 6 | ······ |
| So tell Horneck and Nesbitt, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And Baker and his bit, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And Kauffmann beside, | 5 | ·/˘·/ |
| And the Jessamy Bride, | 6 | ······ |
| With the rest of the crew, | 6 | ······ |
| The Reynoldses two, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Little Comedy’s face, | 6 | /˘/˘˘· |
| And the Captain in lace, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| (By-the-bye you may tell him, | 7 | ······· |
| I have something to sell him; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of use I insist, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| When he comes to enlist. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Your worships must know | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| That a few days ago, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| An order went out, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| For the foot guards so stout | 6 | ······ |
| To wear tails in high taste, | 6 | ······ |
| Twelve inches at least: | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Now I’ve got him a scale | 6 | ······ |
| To measure each tail, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To lengthen a short tail, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And a long one to curtail.)— | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Yet how can I when vext, | 6 | ······ |
| Thus stray from my text? | 5 | ····· |
| Tell each other to rue | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Your Devonshire crew, | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| For sending so late | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To one of my state. | 5 | ····· |
| But ’tis Reynolds’s way | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| From wisdom to stray, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| And Angelica’s whim | 6 | ·˘/˘˘· |
| To be frolick like him, | 6 | ······ |
| But, alas! Your good worships, how could they be wiser, | 12 | ·˘/··/˘····/ |
| When both have been spoil’d in to-day’s Advertiser? | 11 | ········/·˘ |
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