Descend then from your lofty seat,
Behold th' attending Muses wait
With us to sing your praises;
Calliope now strings up her lyre,
And Clio[7] Phoebus does inspire,
The theme their fancy raises.
If then our nursery you will nourish,
We and our Muses too will flourish,
Encouraged by your favour;
We'll doctrines teach the times to serve,
And more five thousand pounds deserve,
By future good behaviour.
Now take our harp into your hand,
The joyful strings, at your command,
In doleful sounds no more shall mourn.
We, with sincerity of heart,
To all your tunes shall bear a part,
Unless we see the tables turn.
If so, great sir, you will excuse us,
For we and our attending Muses
May live to change our strain;
And turn, with merry hearts, our tune,
Upon some happy tenth of June,
To "the king enjoys his own again."
[Footnote 1: Dr. Pratt's speech, which is here parodied, was made when
the Duke of Ormond, Swift's valued friend, was attainted, and superseded
in the office of chancellor of Trinity College, which he had held from
1688-9, by the Prince of Wales, afterwards George II.
There is great reason to suppose that the satire is the work of Swift,
whose attachment to Ormond was uniformly ardent.
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