E P I G R A M S.
B O O K I.
The Author B. J.
​
X I I.
On Lieutenant Shift.
Shift, here in Town, not meanest amongst Squires,
That haunt Pickt-hatch, Mersh-Lambeth, and Whitefryers,
Keeps himself, with half a Man, and defrays
The Charge of that State, with this Charm, God pays.
By that one Spell he Lives, Eats, Drinks, Arrays
Himself: his whole Revenue is, God pays.
The quarter Day is come; the Hostess says,
She must have Money: he returns, God pays.
The Taylor brings a Suit home; he it 'ssays,
Looks o'er the Bill, likes it: and says, God pays.
He steals to Ordinarys; there he plays
At Dice his borrowed Money: which, God pays.
"Epigrams" (published in the 1616 folio) is an entry in a genre that was popular among late-Elizabethan and Jacobean audiences, although Jonson was perhaps the only poet of his time to work in its full classical range. The epigrams explore various attitudes, most from the satiric stock of the day: complaints against women, courtiers and spies abound. The condemnatory poems are short and anonymous; Jonson’s epigrams of praise, including a famous poem to Camden and lines to Lucy Harington, are longer and are mostly addressed to specific individuals