To one great individual wit's confined!
Such eunuchs never propagate their kind.
Thus nature's prodigies bestow the gifts
Of fortune, their descendants are no Swifts.
When did prime statesman, for a sceptre fit
His ministerial successor beget?
No age, no state, no world, can hope to see
Two SWIFTS or WALPOLES in one family.
ON SEVERAL PETTY PIECES
LATELY PUBLISHED AGAINST DEAN SWIFT, NOW DEAF AND INFIRM
Thy mortal part, ingenious Swift! must die,
Thy fame shall reach beyond mortality!
How puny whirlings joy at thy decline,
Thou darling offspring of the tuneful nine!
The noble _lion_ thus, as vigour passes,
The fable tells us, is abused by _asses_.
ON FAULKNER'S EDITION OF SWIFT
Ornamented with an Engraving of the Dean, by Vertue.
In a little dark room at the back of his shop,
Where poets and scribes have dined on a chop,
Poor Faulkner sate musing alone thus of late,
"Two volumes are done--it is time for the plate;
Yes, time to be sure;--but on whom shall I call
To express the great Swift in a compass so small?
Faith, _Vertue_ shall do it, I'm pleased at the thought,
Be the cost what it will--the copper is bought."
Apollo o'erheard, (who as some people guess,
Had a hand in the work, and corrected the press;)
And pleased, he replied, "Honest George, you are right,
The thought was my own, howsoe'er you came by't.
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