The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D Volume Ii Part 45

Arrah! who was him reading? 'twas _jauntleman_ in ruffles, And Patrick's bell she was ringing all in m.u.f.fles; She was ringing very sorry, her tongue tied up with rag, Lorsha! and out of her shteeple there was hung a black flag.[4]

Sing, och, &c.

Patrick astore, who was him made this law?

Some they do say, 'twas the big man of straw;[5]

But others they do say, that it was Jug-Joulter,[6]

The devil he may take her into h.e.l.l and _Boult-her!_ Sing, och, &c.

Musha! Why Parliament wouldn't you maul, Those _carters_, and paviours, and footmen, and all;[7]

Those rascally paviours who did us undermine, Och ma ceade millia mollighart[8] on the feeders of swine!

Sing, och, &c.

[Footnote 1: Astore, means my dear, my heart.]

[Footnote 2: The Tholsel, where criminals for the city were tried, and where proclamations, etc., were posted. It was invariably called the Touls'el by the lower cla.s.s.]

[Footnote 3: It would appear that the chorus here introduced, was intended to chime with the howl, the _ululatus_, or funeral cry, of the Irish.]

[Footnote 4: Swift, it is said, caused a m.u.f.fled peal to be rung from the steeple of St. Patrick's, on the day of the proclamation, and a black flag to be displayed from its battlements.--_Scott_.]

[Footnote 5: The big man of straw, means the Duke of Dorset, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; he had only the name of authority, the essential power being vested in the primate.]

[Footnote 6: Jug-Joulter means Primate _Boulter_, whose name is played upon in the succeeding line. In consequence of the public dissatisfaction expressed at the lowering the gold coin, the primate became very unpopular.]

[Footnote 7: "Footmen" alludes to a supporter of the measure, said to have been the son or grandson of a servant.]

[Footnote 8: Means _"my hundred thousand hearty curses_ on the feeders of swine."]

A WICKED TREASONABLE LIBEL[1]

While the king and his ministers keep such a pother, And all about changing one wh.o.r.e for another, Think I to myself, what need all this strife, His majesty first had a wh.o.r.e of a wife, And surely the difference mounts to no more Than, now he has gotten a wife of a wh.o.r.e.

Now give me your judgment a very nice case on; Each queen has a son, say which is the base one?

Say which of the two is the right Prince of Wales, To succeed, when, (G.o.d bless him,) his majesty fails; Perhaps it may puzzle our loyal divines To unite these two Protestant parallel lines, From a left-handed wife, and one turn'd out of doors, Two reputed king's sons, both true sons of wh.o.r.es; No law can determine it, which is first oars.

But, alas! poor old England, how wilt thou be master'd; For, take which you please, it must needs be a b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

[Footnote 1: So the following very remarkable verses are ent.i.tled, in a copy which exists in the Dean's hand-writing bearing the following characteristic memorandum on the back: "A traitorous libel, writ several years ago. It is inconsistent with itself. Copied September 9, 1735. I wish I knew the author, that I might hang him." And at the bottom of the paper is subjoined this postscript. "I copied out this wicked paper many years ago, in hopes to discover the traitor of an author, that I might inform against him." For the foundation of the scandals current during the reign of George I, to which the lines allude, see Walpole's Reminiscences of the Courts of George the first and second, chap, ii, at p. cii, Walpole's Letters, edit. Cunningham.--_W. E. B._]

EPIGRAMS AGAINST CARTHY BY SWIFT AND OTHERS

CHARLES CARTHY, a schoolmaster in the city of Dublin, was publisher of a translation of Horace, in which the Latin was printed on the one side, and the English on the other, whence he acquired the name of Mezentius, alluding to the practice of that tyrant, who chained the dead to the living.

Carthy was almost continually involved in satirical skirmishes with Dunkin, for whom Swift had a particular friends.h.i.+p, and there is no doubt that the Dean himself engaged in the warfare.--_Scott_.

ON CARTHY'S TRANSLATION OF HORACE

Containing, on one side, the original Latin, on the other, his own version.

This I may boast, which few e'er could, Half of my book at least is good.

ON CARTHY MINOTAURUS

How monstrous Carthy looks with Flaccus braced, For here we see the man and there the beast.

ON THE SAME

Once Horace fancied from a man, He was transformed to a swan;[1]

But Carthy, as from him thou learnest, Has made the man a goose in earnest.

[Footnote 1: "Jam jam residunt cruribus asperae Pelles, et alb.u.m mutor in alitem Superne, nasc.u.n.turque leves Per digitos humerosque plumae."

Lib. ii, Carm. xx.]

ON THE SAME

Talis erat quondam t.i.thoni splendida conjux, Effulsit misero sic Dea juncta viro; Hunc tandem imminuit sensim longaeva senectus, Te vero extinxit, Carole, prima dies.

IMITATED

So blush'd Aurora with celestial charms, So bloom'd the G.o.ddess in a mortal's arms; He sunk at length to wasting age a prey, But thy book perish'd on its natal day.

AD HORATIUM c.u.m CARTHIO CONSTRICTUM

Lectores ridere jubes dum Carthius astat?

Iste procul depellit olens tibi Maevius omnes: Sic triviis veneranda diu, Jovis inclyta proles Terruit, a.s.sumpto, mortales, Gorgonis ore.

IMITATED

Could Horace give so sad a monster birth?

Why then in vain he would excite our mirth; His humour well our laughter might command, But who can bear the death's head in his hand?

AN IRISH EPIGRAM ON THE SAME

While with the fustian of thy book, The witty ancient you enrobe, You make the graceful Horace look As pitiful as Tom M'Lobe.[1]

Ye Muses, guard your sacred mount, And Helicon, for if this log Should stumble once into the fount, He'll make it muddy as a bog.

[Footnote 1: A notorious Irish poetaster, whose name had become proverbial.--_Scott._]