They thought it was an old man's maggot, And strove by turns to break the faggot: In vain; the complicated wands
Were much too strong for all their hands. 'See, (said the sire) how soon 'tis done;' Then took and broke them one by one. 'So strong you'll be, in friendship tied; So quickly broke if you divide:
Keep close, then, boys! and never quarrel.'
Here ends the fable and the moral.
This tale may be applied in few words
To treasurers, comptrollers, stewards,
And others who, in solemn sort,
Appear with slender wands at court, –
Not firmly join'd to keep their ground,
But lashing one another round;
While wise men think they ought to fight
With quarter staves instead of white;
Or constable, with staff of peace,
Should come and make the clattering cease
Which now disturbs the queen
and court, And give the Whigs and rabble sport. In history we never found
The consul's fasces were unbound;
Those Romans were too wise to think on 't,
Except to lash some grand delinquent,
How would they blush to hear it said
The prætor broke the consul's head,
Or consul in his purple gown
Came up, and knock'd the prætor down!
Come, courtiers! every man his stick ;
Lord treasurer, for once be quick;
And that they may the closer cling,
Take your blue ribbon for a string.
Come, trimming Harcourt! bring your mace,
And squeeze it in, or quit your place :
Dispatch, or else that rascal Northy
Will undertake to do it for thee;
And be assured the court will find him
Prepared to leap o'er sticks, or bind them.
To make the bundle strong and safe,
Great Ormond! lend thy general's staff:
And, if the crosier could be cramm'd in,
A fig for Lechmere, King, and Hambden:
You'll then defy the strongest Whig
With both his hands to bend a twig,
Though with united strength they all pull,
From Somers down to Craggs and Walpole.
A crazy prelate, and a royal prude;
By dull divines, who look with envious
On every genius that attempts to rise,
And, pausing o'er a pipe with doubtful nod,
Give hints that poets ne'er believe in God:
So clowns on scholars as on wizards look,
And take a folio for a conjuring-book.
Swift had the sin of wit, no venial crime; Nay, 'tis affirm'd he sometimes dealt in rhyme:
Humour and mirth had place in all he writ;
He reconciled divinity and wit:
He moved, and bow'd, and talk'd, with too much
Nor show'd the parson in his gait or face;
Despised luxurious wines and costly meat,
Yet still was at the tables of the great;
Frequented lords; saw those that saw the
At Child's or Truby's never once had been,
Where town and country vicars flock in tribes,
Secured by numbers from the laymen's gibes,
And deal in vices of the graver sort,
Tobacco, censure, coffee, pride, and port.
But after sage monitions from his friends
His talents to employ for nobler ends,
To better judgments willing to submit,
He turns to politics his dangerous wit.
And now, the public interest to support,
By Harley Swift invited comes to court;
In favour grows with ministers of state,
Admitted private when superiors wait;
And Harley, not ashamed his choice to own,
Takes him to Windsor in his coach alone.
At Windsor, Swift no sooner can appear,
But St. John comes and whispers in his ear:
The waiters stand in ranks: the yeomen cry
'Make room,' as if a duke were passing by.
Now Finch alarms the lords; he hears for certain
This dangerous priest is got behind the curtain:
Finch, famed for tedious elocution, proves
That Swift oils many a spring which Harley moves.
Walpole and Aislabie, to clear the doubt,
Inform the Commons that the secret's out:
'A certain doctor is observed of late
To haunt a certain minister of state;
From whence with half an eye we may discover
The peace is made, and Perkin must come over.'
York is from Lambeth sent to show the queen
A dangerous treatise writ against the spleen';
Which by the style, the matter, and the drift,
'Tis thought could be the work of none but Swift.
Poor York! the harmless tool of others' hate;
He sues for pardon, and repents too late.
Now angry Somerset her vengeance vows
On Swift's reproaches for her
From her red locks her mouth with venom fills,
And thence into the royal ear instils.
The queen, incensed, his services forgot,
Leaves him a victim to the vengeful Scot.
Now through the realm a proclamation spread*
To fix a price on his devoted head;
While, innocent, he scorns ignoble flight,
His watchful friends preserve him by a sleight.
By Harley's favour once again he shines;
Is now caress'd by candidate divines,
Who change opinions with the changing scene:
Lord! how were they mistaken in the Dean!
Now Delaware3 again familiar grows,
And in Swift's ear thrusts half his powder'd nose.
2 The proclamation was against the author of a pamphlet called, The public Spirit of the Whigs;' against which the Scotch Lords complained.
3 Delaware, then Lord Treasurer of the Household, always caressed the author at court; but, during the trial of the printers before the House of Lords, and while the proclamation hung over the author, his lordship would not seem to know him.
The Scottish nation, whom he durst offend, Again apply that Swift would be their friend. By faction tired, with grief he waits a while, His great contending friends to reconcile; Performs what friendship, justice, truth, require: What could he more but decently retire?
WRITTEN SOON AFTER THE AUTHOR'S COMING TO LIVE IN IRELAND, UPON THE QUEEN'S DEATH, OCTOBER 1714.
'Tis true-then why should I repine
To see my life so fast decline?
But why obscurely here alone,
Where I am neither loved nor known?
My state of health none care to learn;
My life is here no soul's concern ;
And those with whom I now converse,
Without a tear will tend my hearse.
Removed from kind Arbuthnot's aid,
Who knows his art, but not his trade,
Preferring his regard for me
Before his credit or his fee.
Some formal visits, looks, and words,
What mere humanity affords,
I meet, perhaps, from three or four,
From whom I once expected more ;
Which those who tend the sick for pay
Can act as decently as they;
4 The Scotch Lords treated and visited the author more after the proclamation than before, except the Duke of Argyle, who would never be reconciled.
|