When we in merry plight, airy and gay,
Surpris'd to find the hours fo fwiftly fly,

With hafty knock, or twang of pendent cord,
Alarm the drowsy youth from flumbering nod; 265
Startled he flies, and ftumbles o'er the stairs

Erroneous, and with bufy knuckles plies

His yet clung eye-lids, and with ftaggering reel
Enters confus'd, and muttering afks our wills;
When we with liberal hand the scare discharge, 270
And homeward each his course with steady step
Unerring fteers, of cares and coin bereft.

THE

2

SOON

as Glumdalclitch miss'd her pleasing care, She wept, fhe blubber'd, and she tore her hair. No British miss fincerer grief has known,

Her squirrel miffing, or her sparrow flown.
She furl'd her fampler, and haul'd-in her thread,
And stuck her needle into Grildrig's bed;
Then spread her hands, and with a bounce let fall
Her baby, like the giant in Guildhall.

In peals of thunder now she roars, and now
She gently whimpers like a lowing cow:
Yet lovely in her forrow ftill appears;
Her locks difhevel'd, and her flood of tears,
Seem like the lofty barn of some rich swain,
When from the thatch drips fast a shower of rain.
In vain she search'd each cranny of the house,
Each gaping chink impervious to a mouse.
"Was it for this (fhe cry'd) with daily care
"Within thy reach I fet the vinegar;

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15

* In Faulkener's edition this Poem is afcribed to Pope, and the Lilliputian Ode to Arbuthnot.

" And

"And fill'd the cruet with the acid tide,

20

While pepper-water worms thy bait fupply'd, Where twin'd the filver eel around thy hook, "And all the little monsters of the brook? "Sure in that lake he dropt: My Grilly's drown'd."She dragg'd the cruet, but no Grildrig found.

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"Vain is thy courage, Grilly, vain thy boast: "But little creatures enterprize the most. "Trembling, I've seen thee dare the kitten's paw, "Nay, mix with children as they play'd at taw, "Nor fear'd the marbles, as they bounding flew : Marbles to them, but rolling rocks to you. "Why did I trust thee with that giddy youth! "Who from a page can ever learn the truth? "Vers'd in court-tricks, that money-loving boy "To fome lord's daughter fold the living toy; "Or rent him limb from limb in cruel play, "As children tear the wings of flies away. "From place to place o'er Brobdingnag I'll roam, "And never will return, or bring thee home. "But who hath eyes to trace the paffing wind? "How then thy fairy footfteps can I find? "Doft thou bewilder'd wander all alone, "In the green thicket of a moffy stone ; "Or, tumbled from the toadstool's flippery round, "Perhaps all maim'd, lie groveling on the ground? "Doft thou, imbofom'd in the lovely rofe, "Or funk within the peach's down, repofe? "Within the king-cup if thy limbs are spread, "Or in the golden cowflip's velvet head:

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35

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45

"O fhew

"O fhew me, Flora, 'midft those sweets, the flower

"Where fleeps my Grildrig in his fragrant bower! 50 "But ah! I fear thy little fancy roves "On little females, and on little loves; "Thy pigmy children, and thy tiny spouse, "The baby-playthings that adorn thy houfe, "Doors, windows, chimneys, and the spacious rooms "Equal in fize to cells of honeycombs.

"Haft thou for these now ventur'd from the shore, "Thy bark a bean-fhell, and a ftraw thy oar?

"Or in thy box now bounding on the main ?

60

"Shall I ne'er bear thyself and house again? "And fhall I fet thee on my hand no more, "To see thee leap the lines, and traverse o'er "My fpacious palm? of stature scarce a span, "Mimic the actions of a real man?

"No more behold thee turn my watch's key, "As feamen at a capftan anchors weigh?

"How wait thou wont to walk with cautious tread, "A difh of tea, like milk-pail, on thy head! "How chafe the mite that bore thy cheese away, "And keep the rolling maggot at a bay!"

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70

She faid; but broken accents stopt her voice, Soft as the speaking-trumpet's mellow noife. She fobb'd a ftorm, and wip'd her flowing eyes, Which feem'd like two broad funs in mifty skies! O! fquander not thy grief; thofe tears command 75 To weep upon our cod in Newfoundland : The plenteous pickle fhall preferve the fish, And Europe taste thy forrows in a dish.

TO