But when from the spire,

They saw so much fire,

Most cleverly came down again.

Then on horseback they got

All on the same spot,

By advice of their cousin Vendosme,
O Lord! cried out he,

Unto young Burgundy,

Would your brother and

you were at home!

While this he did say,

Without more delay,

Away the young gentry fled;

Whose heels for that work,

Were much lighter than cork,

Though their hearts were as heavy as lead.

Not so did behave

Young Hanover brave,1

In this bloody field I assure ye:
When his war-horse was shot

He valued it not,

But fought it on foot like a fury.

Full firmly he stood,

As became his high blood,

↑ The Electoral Prince of Hanover, afterwards George II., behaved with great spirit in the engagement, and charged, at the head of the Hanoverian cavalry, the celebrated French household troops with great success.-Scott.

Which runs in his veins so blue:
For this gallant young man,
Being a-kin to QUEEN ANNE,
Did as (were she a man) she would do.

What a racket was here,

(I think 'twas last year,) For a little misfortune in Spain !

For by letting 'em win,

We have drawn the puts in,

To lose all they're worth this campaign.

Though Bruges and Ghent

·To Monsieur we lent,

With interest they shall repay 'em;

While Paris may sing,

With her sorrowful king,

Nune dimittis instead of Te Deum.

From this dream of success,

They'll awaken, we guess,

At the sound of great Marlborough's drums,

They may think, if they will,

Of Almanza still,

But 'tis Blenheim wherever he comes.

O Lewis perplex'd,

What general next!

Thou hast hitherto changed in vain ;

He has beat 'em all round,

If no new one's found,

He shall beat 'em over again.

We'll let Tallard out,

If he'll take t'other bout;

And much he's improved, let me tell ye,
With Nottingham ale

At every meal,

And good beef and pudding in belly.

But as losers at play,

Their dice throw away,

While the winners do still win on;

Let who will command,

Thou had'st better disband,

For, old Bully, thy doctors1 are gone.

THE GARDEN PLOT. 1709.

WHEN Naboth's vineyard look'd so fine,
The king cried out, "Would this were mine!"
And yet no reason could prevail
To bring the owner to a sale.
Jezebel saw, with haughty pride,
How Ahab grieved to be denied;

1 A cant word for false dice.---Scott.

2 This seems to allude to some oppressive procedure of the Earl of Wharton. There is, Dr. Barrett remarks, a story something similar in the case of Mr. Proby, surgeongeneral of Ireland. Swift had a garden which he used to call Naboth's vineyard.-Scott.

And thus accosted him with scorn:

"Shall Naboth make a monarch mourn?

A king, and weep! The ground's your own;
I'll vest the garden in the crown.”

With that she hatch'd a plot, and made
Poor Naboth answer with his head;
And when his harmless blood was spilt,
The ground became his forfeit guilt.
Poor Hall, renown'd for comely hair,
Whose hands, perhaps, were not so fair,
Yet had a Jezebel as near;

Hall, of small scripture conversation,
Yet, howe'er Hungerford's quotation,
By some strange accident had got
The story of this garden-plot ;-
Wisely foresaw he might have reason
To dread a modern bill of treason,
If Jezebel should please to want
His small addition to her grant:
Therefore resolved, in humble sort,
To begin first, and make his court;
And, seeing nothing else would do,
Gave a third part, to save the other two.

THE VIRTUES OF SID HAMET THE

MAGICIAN'S ROD. 1710.1

THE rod was but a harmless wand,
While Moses held it in his hand;
But, soon as e'er he laid it down,
"Twas a devouring serpent grown.
Our great magician, Hamet Sid,
Reverses what the prophet did:
His rod was honest English wood,
That senseless in a corner stood,
Till metamorphosed by his grasp,
It grew an all-devouring asp ;

Would hiss, and sting, and roll, and twist,
By the mere virtue of his fist:

But, when he laid it down, as quick
Resumed the figure of a stick.

1 When Swift came to London, in 1710, just about the time the ministry was changed, his reception from Lord Treasurer Godolphin was, as he stated to Archbishop King, "different from what he had received from any great man in his life; altogether short, dry, and morose.' To Stella, he owns that this coldness had so enraged him that he was vowing revenge. The fruits of his resentment was the following lampoon on the treasurer's abdication. It was read at Harley's, on the 15th October, 1710; but was not then suspected to be Swift's. The success of this jeu d'esprit was prodigious. The allusion to Godolphin's family name, Sidney, and to his staff of office, are sufficiently obvious.Scott.