Let folks in high or holy stations
Be proud of owning such relations;
Let courtiers hug them in their bosom,
As if they were afraid to lose 'em:
While I, with humble Job, had rather
Say to corruption--"Thou'rt my father."
For he that has so little wit
To nourish vermin, may be bit.
[Footnote 1: These lines were the cause of the personal attack upon
the Dean. See "Prose Works," iv, pp. 27,261. _--W. E. B._]
[Footnote 2: Henry Singleton, Esq., then prime sergeant, afterwards
lord-chief-justice of the common pleas, which he resigned, and was some
time after made master of the rolls.--_F_.]
BETTESWORTH'S EXULTATION
UPON HEARING THAT HIS NAME WOULD BE TRANSMITTED TO POSTERITY
IN DR. SWIFT'S WORKS.
BY WILLIAM DUNKIN
Well! now, since the heat of my passion's abated,
That the Dean hath lampoon'd me, my mind is elated:--
Lampoon'd did I call it?--No--what was it then?
What was it?--'Twas fame to be lash'd by his pen:
For had he not pointed me out, I had slept till
E'en doomsday, a poor insignificant reptile;
Half lawyer, half actor, pert, dull, and inglorious,
Obscure, and unheard of--but now I'm notorious:
Fame has but two gates, a white and a black one;
The worst they can say is, I got in at the back one:
If the end be obtain'd 'tis equal what portal
I enter, since I'm to be render'd immortal:
So clysters applied to the anus, 'tis said,
By skilful physicians, give ease to the head--
Though my title be spurious, why should I be dastard,
A man is a man, though he should be a bastard.
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