Prev | Current Page 328 | Next

Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745

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

He was
promoted _non tam providentia divina quam temporum iniquitate E-scopus_.
From a note in "The Toast," by Frederick Scheffer, written in Latin
verse, done into English by Peregrine O Donald, Dublin and London,
1736.--_W. E. B._]

EPIGRAM[1]
Behold! a proof of _Irish_ sense;
Here _Irish_ wit is seen!
When nothing's left that's worth defence,
We build a magazine.
[Footnote 1: Swift, in his latter days, driving out with his physician,
Dr. Kingsbury, observed a new building, and asked what it was designed
for. On being told that it was a magazine for arms and powder, "Oh! Oh!"
said the Dean, "This is worth remarking; my tablets, as Hamlet says, my
tablets"--and taking out his pocket-book, he wrote the above
epigram.--_W. E. B._]


TRIFLES

GEORGE ROCHFORT'S VERSES
FOR THE REV. DR. SWIFT, DEAN OF ST. PATRICK'S,
AT LARACOR, NEAR TRIM

MUSA CLONSHOGHIANA
That Downpatrick's Dean, or Patrick's down went,
Like two arrand Deans, two Deans errant I meant;
So that Christmas appears at Bellcampe like a Lent,
Gives the gamesters of both houses great discontent.
Our parsons agree here, as those did at Trent,
Dan's forehead has got a most damnable dent,
Besides a large hole in his Michaelmas rent.


Pages:
316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340