So, to her midnight feasts, the hag
Rides on a broomstick for a nag,
That, raised by magic of her breech,
O'er sea and land conveys the witch;
But with the morning dawn resumes
The peaceful state of common brooms.
They tell us something strange and odd,
About a certain magic rod,1

That, bending down its top, divines
Whene'er the soil has golden mines;
Where there are none, it stands erect,
Scorning to show the least respect:
As ready was the wand of Sid
To bend where golden mines were hid:
In Scottish hills found precious ore,2
Where none e'er look'd for it before;
And by a gentle bow divined

How well a cully's purse was lined;
To a forlorn and broken rake,
Stood without motion like a stake.

The rod of Hermes was renown'd
For charms above and under ground;
To sleep could mortal eyelids fix,
And drive departed souls to Styx.
That rod was a just type of Sid's,
Which o'er a British senate's lids

1 The virgula divina, said to be attracted by minerals.-

Swift.

2 Supposed to allude to the Union.-Swift.

Could scatter opium full as well,
And drive as many souls to hell.
Sid's rod was slender, white, and tall,
Which oft he used to fish withal;
A place was fasten'd to the hook,
And many score of gudgeons took ;
Yet still so happy was his fate,
He caught his fish and saved his bait.
Sid's brethren of the conjuring tribe,
A circle with their rod describe,
Which proves a magical redoubt,
To keep mischievous spirits out.
Sid's rod was of a larger stride,
And made a circle thrice as wide,
Where spirits throng with hideous din,
And he stood there to take them in ;
But when th' enchanted rod was broke,
They vanish'd in a stinking smoke.
Achilles' sceptre was of wood,
Like Sid's, but nothing near so good;
Though down from ancestors divine
Transmitted to the hero's line;

Thence, through a long descent of kings,
Came an HEIRLOOM,1 as Homer sings.
Though this description looks so big,..
That sceptre was a sapless twig,
Which, from the fatal day, when first
It left the forest where 'twas nursed,

'Godolphin's favour arose from his connection with the family of Marlborough.---Scott...

As Homer tells us o'er and o'er,
Nor leaf, nor fruit, nor blossom bore.
Sid's sceptre, full of juice, did shoot
In golden boughs, and golden fruit;
And he, the dragon never sleeping,
Guarded each fair Hesperian Pippin.
No hobby-horse, with gorgeous top,
The dearest in Charles Mather's' shop,
Or glittering tinsel of May-Fair,
Could with the rod of Sid compare.

Dear Sid, then why wert thou so mad
To break thy rod like naughty lad ?2
You should have kiss'd it in your distress,
And then return'd it to your mistress;
Or made it a Newmarket switch,3
And not a rod for thy own breech.
But since old Sid has broken this,
His next may be a rod in piss.

An eminent toyman in Fleet-street.---Scott.

2 When Godolphin received the queen's message, removing him from the office of treasurer, he broke his whole rod into two pieces, and threw them into the chimney, desiring the messenger to bear witness he had obeyed her majesty's commands.---Scott.

3 Lord Godolphin is satirized by Mr. Pope, for a strong attachment to the turf. See his Moral Essays.---Scott.

PARODY ON THE RECORDER'S SPEECH

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ORMOND,

4TH JULY, 1711.

THIS city can omit no opportunity of expressing their hearty affection for her majesty's person and government; and their regard for your grace, who has the honour of representing her in this kingdom.

We retain, my lord, a grateful remembrance of the mild and just administration of the government of this kingdom by your noble ancestors; and, when we consider the share your grace had in the happy Revolution, in 1688, and the many good laws you have procured us since, particularly that for preventing the farther growth of Popery, we are assured that that liberty and property, that happy constitution in church and state, to which we were restored by King William of glorious memory, will be inviolably preserved under your grace's administration. And we are persuaded that we cannot more effectually recommend ourselves to your grace's favour and protection, than by assuring you that we will, to the utmost of our power, contribute to the honour and safety of her majesty's government, the maintenance of the succession in the illustrious house of Hanover, and that we shall at all times oppose the secret and open attempts of the Pretender, and all his abettors.

THE RECORDER'S SPEECH EXPLAINED BY

THE TORIES.

An ancient metropolis, famous of late

For opposing the Church, and for nosing the State, For protecting sedition and rejecting order,

Made the following speech by their mouth, the

Recorder:

First, to tell you the name of this place of renown, Some still call it Dublin, but most Forster's town.

THE SPEECH.

May it please your Grace,

We cannot omit this occasion to tell,

That we love the Queen's person and government well;

Then next, to your Grace we this compliment make,
That our worships regard you, but 'tis for her sake:
Though our mouth be a Whig, and our head a
Dissenter,

Yet salute you we must, 'cause you represent her:
Nor can we forget, sir,
that some of your line
Did with mildness and peace in this government

shine.

But of all your exploits, we'll allow but one fact,
That your Grace has procured us a Popery Act.
By this you may see that the least of your actions

Does conduce still the most to our satisfactions.
And lastly, because in the year eighty-eight
You did early appear in defence of our right,
We give no other proof of your zeal to your Prince;
So we freely forget all your services since.
It's then only we hope, that whilst rule o'er us,
You'll tread in the steps of King William the
glorious,

you