Volume Ii Part 32 (1/2)

This thief and blacksmith was so bold, He strove to steal that chain of gold, Which links the subject to the king, And change it for a brazen string.

But sure, if nothing else must pa.s.s Betwixt the king and us but bra.s.s, Although the chain will never crack, Yet our devotion may grow slack.

But Jove will soon convert, I hope, This brazen chain into a rope; With which Prometheus shall be tied, And high in air for ever ride; Where, if we find his liver grows, For want of vultures, we have crows.

[Footnote 1: Corrected from Swift's own MS. notes.--_W. E. B._]

[Footnote 2: To understand this and the following poems on Wood and his halfpence, they must be read in connexion with The Drapier's Letters, ”Prose Works,” vol. vi.--_W. E. B._]

[Footnote 3: d.u.c.h.ess of Kendal.--_Scott_.]

VERSES ON THE REVIVAL OF THE ORDER OF THE BATH,[1]

DURING WALPOLE'S ADMINISTRATION, A. D. 1725

Quoth King Robin, our ribbons I see are too few Of St. Andrew's the green, and St. George's the blue.

I must find out another of colour more gay, That will teach all my subjects with pride to obey.

Though the exchequer be drain'd by prodigal donors, Yet the king ne'er exhausted his fountain of honours.

Men of more wit than money our pensions will fit, And this will fit men of more money than wit.

Thus my subjects with pleasure will obey my commands, Though as empty as Younge, and as saucy as Sandes And he who'll leap over a stick for the king, Is qualified best for a dog in a string.

[Footnote 1: See Gulliver's Travels, ”Prose Works,” ii, 40. Also my ”Wit and Wisdom of Lord Chesterfield” and ”Life of Lord Chesterfield”

for a ballad on the order.--_W. E. B._]

EPIGRAM ON WOOD'S BRa.s.s MONEY

Carteret was welcomed to the sh.o.r.e First with the brazen cannon's roar; To meet him next the soldier comes, With brazen trumps and brazen drums; Approaching near the town he hears The brazen bells salute his ears: But when Wood's bra.s.s began to sound, Guns, trumpets, drums, and bells, were drown'd.

A SIMILE ON OUR WANT OF SILVER, AND THE ONLY WAY TO REMEDY IT. 1725

As when of old some sorceress threw O'er the moon's face a sable hue, To drive unseen her magic chair, At midnight, through the darken'd air; Wise people, who believed with reason That this eclipse was out of season, Affirm'd the moon was sick, and fell To cure her by a counter spell.

Ten thousand cymbals now begin, To rend the skies with brazen din; The cymbals' rattling sounds dispel The cloud, and drive the hag to h.e.l.l.

The moon, deliver'd from her pain, Displays her silver face again.

Note here, that in the chemic style, The moon is silver all this while.

So (if my simile you minded, Which I confess is too long-winded) When late a feminine magician,[1]

Join'd with a brazen politician,[2]

Exposed, to blind the nation's eyes, A parchment[3] of prodigious size; Conceal'd behind that ample screen, There was no silver to be seen.

But to this parchment let the Drapier Oppose his counter-charm of paper, And ring Wood's copper in our ears So loud till all the nation hears; That sound will make the parchment shrivel And drive the conjurors to the Devil; And when the sky is grown serene, Our silver will appear again.

[Footnote 1: The d.u.c.h.ess of Kendal, who was to have a share of Wood's profits.--_Scott._]

[Footnote 2: Sir Robert Walpole, nicknamed Sir Robert Bra.s.s, vol. i, p.

219.--_W. E. B._]