'Tis faid that thou fhould'ft cleave unto thy wife; Once thou didft cleave, and I could cleave for life. Hear, and relent! hark, how thy children moan: Be kind at least to thefe they are thy own!

Be bold, and count them all; fecure to find

The honeft number that vou left behind.

See how they pat thee with their pretty paws :
Why start you? are they fnakes? or have they claws
Thy Chriftian feed, our mutual flesh and bone:
Be kind at least to thefe they are thy own!

* Biddel, like thee, might fartheft India rove;
He chang'd his country, but retains his love:
There's captain Pannel, abfent half his life,
Comes back, and is the kinder to his wife :
Yet Pannel's wife is brown, compar'd to me,
And Mistress Biddel fure is fifty-three!

Not touch me! Never neighbour call'd me flute
Was Flimnap's dame more fweet in Lilliput ?
I've no red hair, to breathe an odious fume;
At least thy confort's cleaner than thy groom.
Why then that dirty ftable-boy thy care?
What mean thofe vifits to the forrel mare ?
Say, by what witchcraft, or what dæmon led,
Preferr'ft thou litter to the marriage-bed!

Some fay the devil himself is in that mare :
If fo, our Dean fhall drive him forth by prayer.
Some think you mad; fome think you are poffeft;
That Bedlam and clean straw will fuit you best.

* Names of the fea-captains mentioned in the Travels.

Vain means, alas, this phrenzy to appease!
That straw, that straw would heighten the disease.

My bed (the scene of all our former joys,
Witness two lovely girls, two lovely boys)
Alone I prefs; in dreams I call my dear,
I ftretch my hand; no Gulliver is there!
I wake, I rise, and, fhivering with the frost,
Search all the houfe: my Gulliver is loft!
Forth in the streets I rush with frantic cries;
The windows open; all the neighbours rife :
Where fleeps my Gulliver? O tell me where !
The neighbours answer, " With the forrel mare !"
At early morn' I to the market hafte

(Studious in every thing to please thy taste); A curious fowl and 'sparagus I chose

(For I remember'd you were fond of those); Three fhillings cost the first, the last seven groats; Sullen you turn from both, and call for oats.

Others bring goods and treafure to their houses,
Something to deck their pretty babes and spouses;
My only token was a cup like horn,

That's made of nothing but a lady's corn.
'Tis not for that I grieve; no, 'tis to fee
The groom and forrel mare preferr'd to me!
These for fome moments when you deign to quit,
And (at due diftance) fweet discourse admit,
'Tis all my pleasure thy paft toil to know,
For pleas'd remembrance builds delight on woe.
At every danger pants thy confort's breast,
And gaping infants fquall to hear the rest.

How

ODLE

How did I tremble when, by thousands bound,
1 faw thee ftretch'd on Lilliputian ground;
When fcaling armies climb'd up every part,
Each step they trod I felt upon my heart.
But, when thy torrent quench'd the dreadful blaze,
King, queen, and nation, staring with amaze,
Full in my view how all my husband came !
And what extingufh'd theirs, increas'd my flame.
Thofe fpectacles, ordain'd thine eyes to fave,
Were once my prefent; Love that armour gave.
How did I mourn at Bolgolam's decree !
For, when he fign'd thy death, he fentenc'd me.

When folks might fee thee all the country round
For fix-pence, I'd have given a thousand pound.
Lord! when that giant babe that head of thine
Got in his mouth, my heart was up in mine!
When in the marrow-bone I fee thee ramm'd,
Or on the houfe-top by the monkey cramm'd,
The piteous images renew my pain,
And all thy dangers I weep o'er again.
But on the maiden's nipple when you rid,
Pray Heaven 'twas all a wanton maiden did!
Glumdalclitch too!-with thee I mourn her cafe :
Heaven guard the gentle girl from all disgrace!
0 may the king that one neglect forgive,
And pardon her the fault by which I live!
Was there no other way to fet him free?
My life, alas! I fear, prov'd death to thee.

O teach me, Dear, new words to speak my flame! Teach me to woo thee by thy beft-lov'd name.

Whether

Whether the style of Grildrig please thee most,
So call'd on Brobdingnag's ftupendous coaft,
When on the monarch's ample hand you fate,
And halloo'd in his ear intrigues of state;
Or Quinbus Fleftrin more endearment brings,
When like a mountain you look'd down on kings;
If ducal Nardac, Lilliputian peer,

Or Glumblum's humbler title footh thy ear;
Nay, would kind Jove my organs so dispose,

To hymn harmonious Houyhnhnm through the nofe,
I'd call thee Houyhnhnm, that high-founding name,
Thy children's nofes all should twang the fame.
So might I find my loving spouse of course
Endued with all the virtues of a horse.

EPISTLE

T

A DOG AT COURT.

"O thee, fweet Fop, these lines I fend,
Who, though no spaniel, am a friend..
Though once my tail in wanton play,
Now frisking this and then that way,
Chanc'd, with a touch of just the tip,
To hurt your lady-lap-dog-fhip;

Yet thence to think I'd bite your head off;
Sure Bounce is one you never read of.
Fop! you can dance, and make a leg,
Can fetch and carry, cringe and beg;
And (what's the top of all your tricks);
Can ftoop to pick up ftrings and fticks.
We country dogs love nobler fport,
And fcorn the pranks of dogs at court..
Fie, naughty Fop! where'er you come
To fart and pifs about the room,