ELL, Sidrophel, tho' 'tis in vainTo tamper with your crazy brain,
Without trepanning of your skull,[2]
As often as the moon's at full,
'Tis not amiss, ere ye're giv'n o'er, 5
To try one desp'rate med'cine more;
For where your case can be no worse,
The desp'rat'st is the wisest course.
- ↑ This Epistle was not published till many years after the preceding canto, and does not refer to the character there described. Sidrophel in the poem is, most probably, William Lilly, the astrologer and almanack-maker. But the Sidrophel of this Epistle is said to have been Sir Paul Neile, a conceited virtuoso, and member of the Royal Society. See note on line 86, post. The name Sidrophel had become proverbial for ignorance and imposture, when the Epistle was written.
- ↑ A surgical operation to remove part of the skull when it presses upon the brain. It was said to restore the understanding, and in that sense proposed as a remedy for the disorder with which Dean Swift was afflicted.
