When he speaks, When he eats, Famine threats! When he drinks, Neptune shrinks! Nigh thy ear, In mid air, On thy hand Let me stand; So shall I, Lofty poet! touch the sky. THE LAMENTATION OF GLUMDALCLITCH FOR THE LOSS OF GRILDRIG. A PASTORAL. Soon as Glumdalclitch miss'd her pleasing care, In peals of thunder now she roars, and now, Her locks dishevell'd and her flood of tears, Seem like the lofty barn of some rich swain, And fill'd the cruet with the acid tide, While pepper-water worms thy bait supplied; "Vain is thy courage, Grilly, vain thy boast! But little creatures enterprise the most. Trembling I've seen thee dare the kitten's paw, Nay, mix with children, as they play'd at taw, Nor fear the marbles as they bounding flew ; Marbles to them, but rolling rocks to you! 66 Why did I trust thee with that giddy youth? Who from a page can ever learn the truth? Versed in court-tricks, that money-loving boy To some lord's daughter sold 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 passing wind? How then thy fairy footsteps can I find? Dost thou bewilder'd wander all alone In the green thicket of a mossy stone; Or, tumbled from the toadstool's slippery round, O show me, Flora, 'midst those sweets, the flower Where sleeps my Grildrig in the fragrant bower! "But ah! I fear thy little fancy roves On little females, and on little loves; Hast thou for these now ventured from the shore, No more behold thee turn my watch's key, How wert thou wont to walk with cautious tread, A dish of tea, like milkpail, on thy head! She spoke; but broken accents stopp'd her voice, Soft as the speaking-trumpet's mellow noise: She sobb'd a storm, and wiped her flowing eyes, TO MR. LEMUEL GULLIVER, THE GRATEFUL ADDRESS OF THE UNHAPPY HOUYHNHNMS, NOW IN SLAVERY AND BONDAGE IN ENGLAND. [These pieces of Pope are given by Sir Walter Scott in his Life of Swift, with the exception of the present verses, from a Horse; which he observes " do not appear." Swift's Works, vol. xiii. p. 372.] To thee, we wretches of the Houyhnhnm band, O happy Yahoo, purged from human crimes, By thy sweet sojourn in those virtuous climes, Where reign our sires; there, to thy country's shame, Reason, you found, and virtue were the same. Art thou the first who did the coast explore; Did never Yahoo tread that ground before? Yes, thousands! But in pity to their kind, Or sway'd by envy, or through pride of mind, They hid their knowledge of a nobler race, Which own'd, would all their sires and sons disgrace. You, like the Samian, visit lands unknown, And by their wiser morals mend your own. Thus Orpheus travell'd to reform his kind, Came back, and tamed the brutes he left behind. You went, you saw, you heard: with virtue fought, Then spread those morals which the Houyhnhnms taught. Our labours here must touch thy generous heart, O would the stars, to ease my bonds, ordain, That gentle Gulliver might guide my rein! |