Tis come to what I always thought:
My dame is hardly worth a groat. *
Had you and I been courtiers born,
We should not thus have lain forlorn :
For those we dextrous courtiers call,
Can rise upon their masters' fall:
But we, unlucky and unwise,
Must fall because our masters rise.
My master, scarce a fortnight since,
Was grown as wealthy as a prince;
But now it will be no such thing,
For he'll be poor as any king:
* Many a true word, according to an ancient proverb, is spo. ken in jest. Swift was not aware how nearly he described the narrowed situation of Mrs Howard's finances. Lord Orford, in a letter written shortly after her death, describes her affairs as so far from being easy, that the utmost economy could by no means prevent her exceeding her income considerably; and elsewhere informs us, in his Reminiscences, that, besides Marble Hill, which cost the king ten or twelve thousand pounds, she did not leave above 20,000l. to her family.-Lord Orford's Works, Vol. IV. p. 304. V.
In my own Thames may Ife'er I stoop beneath a cr Except her majesty prevail To place me with the Prince And then I shall be free from For he'll be prince these fifty I then will turn a courtier too And serve the times, as others Plain loyalty, not built on ho Ileave to your contriver, Pop None loves his king and coun Yet none was ever less their d
ivay master горе will break nis neart.
In my own Thames may I be drownded, If e'er I stoop beneath a crown'd head; Except her majesty prevails
To place me with the Prince of Wales;
And then I shall be free from fears,
For he'll be prince these fifty years.
I then will turn a courtier too,
And serve the times, as others do.
Plain loyalty, not built on hope,
I leave to your contriver, Pope:
None loves his king and country better,
Yet none was ever less their debtor.
Then let him come and take a nap
In summer on my verdant lap;
Prefer our villas, where the Thames is,
To Kensington, or hot St James's:
Nor shall I dull in silence sit:
For 'tis to me he owes his wit;
My groves, my echoes, and my birds,
Have taught him his poetic words.
We gardens, and you wildernesses,
Assist all poets in distresses.
Along the plain like lightnin
Till, entering on a broad high
Where power and titles scatt-
He strove to pick up all he f
And by excursions lost his gr
No sooner got, than with disd
He threw them on the ground
And hasted forward to pursue
Fresh objects, fairer to his vie
In hope to spring some nobler
But all he took was just the sa
Too scornful now to stop his p
He spurn'd them in his rival's
Possession kept the beaten
And gather'd all his brother st
But overcharg'd, and out of w
Though strong in limbs, he la
Desire had now the goal in
It was a tower of monstrous he
Where on the summit Fortune
A crown and sceptre in her ha
Beneath a chasm as deep as I
Where
many a bold adventure
Desire, in rapture, gaz'd a wh And saw the treacherous godd But, as he climb'd to grasp th She knock'd him with the sce
Till, entering on a broad highway,
Where power and titles scatter'd lay,
He strove to pick up all he found,
And by excursions lost his ground:
No sooner got, than with disdain
He threw them on the ground again;
And hasted forward to pursue
Fresh objects, fairer to his view;
In hope to spring some nobler game;
But all he took was just the same:
Too scornful now to stop his pace,
He spurn'd them in his rival's face.
Possession kept the beaten road,
And gather'd all his brother strow'd;
But overcharg'd, and out of wind,
Though strong in limbs, he lagg'd behind.
Desire had now the goal in sight:
It was a tower of monstrous height;
Where on the summit Fortune stands,
A crown and sceptre in her hands;
Beneath a chasm as deep as Hell,
Where many a bold adventurer fell.
Desire, in rapture, gaz'd a while,
And saw the treacherous goddess smile;
But, as he climb'd to grasp the crown,
She knock'd him with the sceptre down!
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