DR. SWIFT'S ANSWER. HER majesty never shall be my exalter; And yet she would raise me, I know, by a halter! TO THE REVEREND DR. SWIFT, WITH A PRESENT OF A PAPER-BOOK, FINELY BOUND, ON HIS BIRTH-DAY, NOV. 30, 1732.* BY JOHN EARL OF ORRERY. To thee, dear Swift, these spotless leaves I send; Who knows the price that thou canst make it bear? Yet, if a venal and corrupted age, And modern vices should provoke thy rage; Then shall we view these sheets with glad surprise, * It was occasioned by an annual custom, which I found pursued among his friends, of making him a present on his birthday.-ORRERY. Each vacant space shall then, enrich'd, dispense The spangled covering, bright with splendid ore, VERSES LEFT WITH A SILVER STANDISH ON THE DEAN OF ST. PATRICK'S DESK, ON HIS BIRTH-DAY. BY DR. DELANY. HITHER from Mexico I came, But soon turn'd out to serve the poor: * Alluding to five hundred pounds lent by the Dean, without interest, to poor tradesmen.-F. Not strolling Idleness to aid, VERSES OCCASIONED BY THE FOREGOING PRESENTS. A PAPER BOOK is sent by Boyle, Too neatly gilt for me to soil. Delany sends a silver standish, When I no more a pen can brandish. Let both around my tomb be placed : As trophies of a Muse deceased; And let the friendly lines they writ, In praise of long-departed wit, Be graved on either side in columns, More to my praise than all my volumes, To burst with envy, spite, and rage, The Vandals of the present age. VERSES SENT TO THE DEAN WITH AN EAGLE QUILL, ON HEARING OF THE PRESENTS BY THE EARL OF ORRERY AND SHALL then my kindred all my glory claim, When fix'd to strike the sweetly warbling wire,t Then shall the world my wondrous worth declare, * See a letter to Mrs. Pilkington, Jan. 1, 1732-3. AN INVITATION, BY DR. DELANY, IN THE NAME OF DR. SWIFT.* MIGHTY Thomas,† a solemn senatus ‡ I call, To consult for Sapphira ; § so come one and all; Quit books, and quit business, your cure and your care, For a long winding walk, and a short bill of fare. For Letty,|| one filbert, whereon to regale; And for your cruel part, ** who take pleasure in blood, I have that of the grape, which is ten times as good: Flow wit to her honour, flow wine to her health: High raised be her worth above titles or wealth. * See Mrs. Pilkington's Memoirs, Vol. III. page 65.—N. † From their diminutive size, the Dean used to call Mr. Pilkington "Tom Thumb," and his wife "his lady fair.”—N. To correct Mrs. Barber's poems; which were published at London, in 4to, by subscription. § The name by which Mrs. Barber was distinguished by her friends.-N. Mrs. Pilkington.-N. Mrs. Constantia Grierson, a very learned young lady, who died in 1733, at the age of 27.—N. ** Mrs. Van Lewen, (Mrs. Pilkington's mother,) who used to argue with Dr. Swift, about his declamation against eating blood. -N. |