Volume Ii Part 17 (1/2)
[Footnote 4: The Irish name of a farm the Dean took of Sir Arthur Acheson, and was to build on, but changed his mind, and called it Drapier's Hill.
See the poem so named, and ”The Dean's Reasons for not building at Drapier's-Hill,” _ante_, p.107. _--W. E. B._]
[Footnote 5: A village near Sir Arthur Acheson's.]
[Footnote 6: A parody on the phrase, ”As brave as his sword.”--_Scott_.]
[Footnote 7: My lady's waiting-maid.]
[Footnote 8: Montezuma or Mutezuma, the last Emperor of Mexico and the richest, taken prisoner by Hernando Cortes, about 1511, who also obtained possession of the whole empire. Hakluyt's ”Navigations,” etc., vols.
viii, ix.--_W. E. B._]
[Footnote 9: The butler.]
[Footnote 10: The housekeeper.]
[Footnote 11: The agent.]
ROBIN AND HARRY.[1] 1730
Robin to beggars with a curse, Throws the last s.h.i.+lling in his purse; And when the coachman comes for pay, The rogue must call another day.
Grave Harry, when the poor are pressing Gives them a penny and G.o.d's blessing; But always careful of the main, With twopence left, walks home in rain.
Robin from noon to night will prate, Run out in tongue, as in estate; And, ere a twelvemonth and a day, Will not have one new thing to say.
Much talking is not Harry's vice; He need not tell a story twice: And, if he always be so thrifty, His fund may last to five-and-fifty.
It so fell out that cautious Harry, As soldiers use, for love must marry, And, with his dame, the ocean cross'd; (All for Love, or the World well Lost!) [2]
Repairs a cabin gone to ruin, Just big enough to shelter two in; And in his house, if anybody come, Will make them welcome to his modic.u.m Where Goody Julia milks the cows, And boils potatoes for her spouse; Or darns his hose, or mends his breeches, While Harry's fencing up his ditches.
Robin, who ne'er his mind could fix, To live without a coach-and-six, To patch his broken fortunes, found A mistress worth five thousand pound; Swears he could get her in an hour, If gaffer Harry would endow her; And sell, to pacify his wrath, A birth-right for a mess of broth.
Young Harry, as all Europe knows, Was long the quintessence of beaux; But, when espoused, he ran the fate That must attend the married state; From gold brocade and s.h.i.+ning armour, Was metamorphosed to a farmer; His grazier's coat with dirt besmear'd; Nor twice a-week will shave his beard.
Old Robin, all his youth a sloven, At fifty-two, when he grew loving, Clad in a coat of paduasoy, A flaxen wig, and waistcoat gay, Powder'd from shoulder down to flank, In courtly style addresses Frank; Twice ten years older than his wife, Is doom'd to be a beau for life; Supplying those defects by dress, Which I must leave the world to guess.
[Footnote 1: A lively account of these two gentlemen occurs in Dr. King's Anecdotes of his Own Times, p. 137 _et seq_., who confirms the peculiarities which Swift has enumerated in the text.--_Scott_.]
[Footnote 2: The t.i.tle of Dryden's Play, founded on the story of Antony and Cleopatra.--_W. E. B._]
A PANEGYRIC ON THE DEAN
IN THE PERSON OF A LADY IN THE NORTH [l] 1730
Resolved my grat.i.tude to show, Thrice reverend Dean, for all I owe, Too long I have my thanks delay'd; Your favours left too long unpaid; But now, in all our s.e.x's name, My artless Muse shall sing your fame.
Indulgent you to female kind, To all their weaker sides are blind: Nine more such champions as the Dean Would soon restore our ancient reign; How well to win the ladies' hearts, You celebrate their wit and parts!
How have I felt my spirits raised, By you so oft, so highly praised!
Transform'd by your convincing tongue To witty, beautiful, and young, I hope to quit that awkward shame, Affected by each vulgar dame, To modesty a weak pretence; And soon grow pert on men of sense; To show my face with scornful air; Let others match it if they dare.
Impatient to be out of debt, O, may I never once forget The bard who humbly deigns to chuse Me for the subject of his Muse!
Behind my back, before my nose, He sounds my praise in verse and prose.
My heart with emulation burns, To make you suitable returns; My grat.i.tude the world shall know; And see, the printer's boy below; Ye hawkers all, your voices lift; ”A Panegyric on Dean Swift!”
And then, to mend the matter still, ”By Lady Anne of Market-Hill!”[2]
I thus begin: My grateful Muse Salutes the Dean in different views; Dean, butler, usher, jester, tutor; Robert and Darby's[3] coadjutor; And, as you in commission sit, To rule the dairy next to Kit;[4]
In each capacity I mean To sing your praise. And first as Dean: Envy must own, you understand your Precedence, and support your grandeur: Nor of your rank will bate an ace, Except to give Dean Daniel[5] place.
In you such dignity appears, So suited to your state and years!
With ladies what a strict decorum!
With what devotion you adore 'em!
Treat me with so much complaisance, As fits a princess in romance!
By your example and a.s.sistance, The fellows learn to know their distance.
Sir Arthur, since you set the pattern, No longer calls me snipe and slattern, Nor dares he, though he were a duke, Offend me with the least rebuke.