The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D Volume I Part 7

[Footnote 1: To Ireland, as one of the Lords Justices.]

[Footnote 2: Who, by insinuating that the post of secretary was unsuitable for a clergyman, obtained it for himself, though it had been promised to Swift; and when Swift claimed the Deanery of Derry, in virtue of Lord Berkeley's promise of the "first good preferment that should fall in his gift," the earl referred him to Bush, who told him that it was promised to another, but that if he would lay down a thousand pounds for it he should have the preference. Swift, enraged at the insult, immediately left the castle; but was ultimately pacified by being presented with the Rectory of Agher and the Vicarages of Laracor and Rathbeggan. See Forster's "Life of Swift," p. 111; Birkbeck Hill's "Letters of Swift," and "Prose Works," vol. xi, 380.--_W. E. B_.]

[Footnote 2: Always taken before my lord went to council.--_Dublin Edition_.]

[Footnote 3: The usurping kings in "The Rehearsal"; the celebrated farce written by the Duke of Buckingham, in conjunction with Martin Clifford, Butler, Sprat, and others, in ridicule of the rhyming tragedies then in vogue, and especially of Dryden in the character of Bayes.--See Malone's "Life of Dryden," p. 95.--_W. E. B._]

[Footnote 4: The usurping kings in "The Rehearsal," Act I, Sc. 1; Act II, Sc. 1; always whispering each other.--_W. E. B_.]

THE PROBLEM,

"THAT MY LORD BERKELEY STINKS WHEN HE IS IN LOVE"

Did ever problem thus perplex, Or more employ the female s.e.x?

So sweet a pa.s.sion who would think, Jove ever form'd to make a stink?

The ladies vow and swear, they'll try, Whether it be a truth or lie.

Love's fire, it seems, like inward heat, Works in my lord by stool and sweat, Which brings a stink from every pore, And from behind and from before; Yet what is wonderful to tell it, None but the favourite nymph can smell it.

But now, to solve the natural cause By sober philosophic laws; Whether all pa.s.sions, when in ferment, Work out as anger does in vermin; So, when a weasel you torment, You find his pa.s.sion by his scent.

We read of kings, who, in a fright, Though on a throne, would fall to sh--.

Beside all this, deep scholars know, That the main string of Cupid's bow, Once on a time was an a-- gut; Now to a n.o.bler office put, By favour or desert preferr'd From giving pa.s.sage to a t--; But still, though fix'd among the stars, Does sympathize with human a--.

Thus, when you feel a hard-bound breech, Conclude love's bow-string at full stretch, Till the kind looseness comes, and then, Conclude the bow relax'd again.

And now, the ladies all are bent, To try the great experiment, Ambitious of a regent's heart, Spread all their charms to catch a f-- Watching the first unsavoury wind, Some ply before, and some behind.

My lord, on fire amid the dames, F--ts like a laurel in the flames.

The fair approach the speaking part, To try the back-way to his heart.

For, as when we a gun discharge, Although the bore be none so large, Before the flame from muzzle burst, Just at the breech it flashes first; So from my lord his pa.s.sion broke, He f--d first and then he spoke.

The ladies vanish in the smother, To confer notes with one another; And now they all agreed to name Whom each one thought the happy dame.

Quoth Neal, whate'er the rest may think, I'm sure 'twas I that smelt the stink.

You smell the stink! by G--d, you lie, Quoth Ross, for I'll be sworn 'twas I.

Ladies, quoth Levens, pray forbear; Let's not fall out; we all had share; And, by the most I can discover, My lord's a universal lover.

THE DESCRIPTION OF A SALAMANDER, 1705

From Pliny, "Hist. Nat.," lib. x, 67; lib. xxix.

As mastiff dogs, in modern phrase, are Call'd _Pompey, Scipio_, and _Caesar;_ As pies and daws are often styl'd With Christian nicknames, like a child; As we say _Monsieur_ to an ape, Without offence to human shape; So men have got, from bird and brute, Names that would best their nature suit.

The _Lion, Eagle, Fox_, and _Boar_, Were heroes' t.i.tles heretofore, Bestow'd as hi'roglyphics fit To show their valour, strength, or wit: For what is understood by _fame_, Besides the getting of a _name?_ But, e'er since men invented guns, A diff'rent way their fancy runs: To paint a hero, we inquire For something that will conquer _fire._ Would you describe _Turenne_[1] or _Trump?_[2]

Think of a _bucket_ or a _pump._ Are these too low?--then find out grander, Call my LORD CUTTS a _Salamander._[3]

'Tis well;--but since we live among Detractors with an evil tongue, Who may object against the term, Pliny shall prove what we affirm: Pliny shall prove, and we'll apply, And I'll be judg'd by standers by.

First, then, our author has defined This reptile of the serpent kind, With gaudy coat, and shining train; But loathsome spots his body stain: Out from some hole obscure he flies, When rains descend, and tempests rise, Till the sun clears the air; and then Crawls back neglected to his den.[4]

So, when the war has raised a storm, I've seen a snake in human form, All stain'd with infamy and vice, Leap from the dunghill in a trice, Burnish and make a gaudy show, Become a general, peer, and beau, Till peace has made the sky serene, Then shrink into its hole again.

"All this we grant--why then, look yonder, Sure that must be a Salamander!"

Further, we are by Pliny told, This serpent is extremely cold; So cold, that, put it in the fire, 'Twill make the very flames expire: Besides, it spues a filthy froth (Whether thro' rage or l.u.s.t or both) Of matter purulent and white, Which, happening on the skin to light, And there corrupting to a wound, Spreads leprosy and baldness round.[5]

So have I seen a batter'd beau, By age and claps grown cold as snow, Whose breath or touch, where'er he came, Blew out love's torch, or chill'd the flame: And should some nymph, who ne'er was cruel, Like Carleton cheap, or famed Du-Ruel, Receive the filth which he ejects, She soon would find the same effects Her tainted carca.s.s to pursue, As from the Salamander's spue; A dismal shedding of her locks, And, if no leprosy, a pox.

"Then I'll appeal to each bystander, If this be not a Salamander?"

[Footnote 1: The famous Mareschal Turenne, general of the French forces, called the greatest commander of the age.]

[Footnote 2: Admiral of the States General in their war with England, eminent for his courage and his victories.]

[Footnote 3: Who obtained this name from his coolness under fire at the siege of Namur. See Journal to Stella, "Prose Works," vol. ii, p.

267.--_W. E. B_.]

[Footnote 4: "Animal lacertae figura, stellatum, numquam nisi magnis imbribus proveniens et serenitate desinens."--Pliny, "Hist. Nat.," lib.

x, 67.]

[Footnote 5: "Huic tantus rigor ut ignem tactu restinguat non alio modo quam glacies. ejusdem sanie, quae lactea ore vomitur, quac.u.mque parte corporis humani contacta toti defluunt pili, idque quod contactum est colorem in vitiliginem mutat."--Lib. x, 67. "Inter omnia venenata salamandrae scelus maximum est. . . . nam si arbori inrepsit omnia poma inficit veneno, et eos qui ederint necat frigida vi nihil aconito distans."--Lib. xxix, 4, 23.--_W. E. B._]

TO CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH[1]

Mordanto fills the trump of fame, The Christian world his deeds proclaim, And prints are crowded with his name.

In journeys he outrides the post, Sits up till midnight with his host, Talks politics, and gives the toast.

Knows every prince in Europe's face, Flies like a squib from place to place, And travels not, but runs a race.

From Paris gazette a-la-main, This day arriv'd, without his train, Mordanto in a week from Spain.

A messenger comes all a-reek Mordanto at Madrid to seek; He left the town above a week.

Next day the post-boy winds his horn, And rides through Dover in the morn: Mordanto's landed from Leghorn.

Mordanto gallops on alone, The roads are with his followers strewn, This breaks a girth, and that a bone;

His body active as his mind, Returning sound in limb and wind, Except some leather lost behind.

A skeleton in outward figure, His meagre corps, though full of vigour, Would halt behind him, were it bigger.

So wonderful his expedition, When you have not the least suspicion, He's with you like an apparition.

Shines in all climates like a star; In senates bold, and fierce in war; A land commander, and a tar:

Heroic actions early bred in, Ne'er to be match'd in modern reading, But by his namesake, Charles of Sweden.[2]

[Footnote 1: Who in the year 1705 took Barcelona, and in the winter following with only 280 horse and 900 foot enterprized and accomplished the conquest of Valentia.--_Pope_.

"--he whose lightning pierc'd th'Iberian lines, Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my vines, Or tames the genius of the stubborn plain Almost as quickly as he conquer'd Spain."