Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7.djvu/309

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
RIDDLES.
297

My blood this day is very sweet,
To morrow of a bitter juice:
Like milk, 'tis cry'd about the street,
And so apply'd to different use.

Most wondrous is my magick power:
For with one colour I can paint;
I'll make the devil a saint this hour,
Next make a devil of a saint.

Through distant regions I can fly,
Provide me but with paper wings;
And fairly show a reason why
There should be quarrels among kings.

And, after all, you'll think it odd,
When learned doctors will dispute,
That I should point the word of God,
And show where they can best confute.

Let lawyers bawl and strain their throats:
'Tis I that must the lands convey,
And strip the clients to their coats;
Nay, give their very souls away.




XIII.


ALL of us in one you'll find,
Brethren of a wondrous kind;
Yet among us all no brother
Knows one tittle of the other;
We in frequent councils are,
And our marks of things declare,
Where, to us unknown, a clerk

Sits, and takes them in the dark.

He's