Prev | Current Page 248 | Next

Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745

"The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2"


I scorn thy spurious and degenerate line,
And from this hour my patronage resign.

[Footnote 1: Italy was not properly the native place of St. Patrick, but
the place of his education, and whence he received his mission; and
because he had his new birth there, by poetical license, and by scripture
figure, our author calls that country his native Italy.--_Dublin
Edition_.]
[Footnote 2: Orpheus, or the ancient author of the Greek poem on the
Argonautic expedition, whoever he be, says, that Jason, who manned the
ship Argos at Thessaly, sailed to Ireland. And Adrianus Junius says the
same thing, in these lines:
"Ilia ego sum Graiis, olim glacialis Ierne
Dicta, et Jasoniae puppis bene cognita nautis."--_Dublin Edition_.]
[Footnote 3: Tacitus, comparing Ireland to Britain, says of the former:
"Melius aditus portusque per commercia et negotiatores
cogniti."--_Agricola,_ xxiv.--_W. E. B._]
[Footnote 4: Fordun, in his Scoti-Chronicon, Hector Boethius, Buchanan,
and all the Scottish historians, agree that Fergus, son of Ferquard, King
of Ireland, was the first King of Scotland, which country he
subdued.--_Scott_.]
[Footnote 5: In the reign of Henry II, 1172, Dermot Macmorrogh, King of
Leinster, having been expelled from his kingdom by Roderick, King of
Connaught, sought and obtained the assistance of the English for the
recovery of his dominions.


Pages:
236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260