Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7.djvu/35

Lord! madam, says Mary, how d'ye do? Indeed, says I, never worse:
But pray, Mary, can you tell what I have done with my purse?
Lord help me! says Mary, I never stirr'd out of this place:
Nay, said I, I had it in lady Betty's chamber, that's a plain case.
So Mary got me to bed, and cover'd me up warm:
However, she stole away my garters, that I might do myself no harm.
So I tumbled and toss'd all night, as you may very well think,
But hardly ever set my eyes together, or slept a wink.
So I was a-dream'd, methought, that we went and searched the folks round,
And in a corner of Mrs. Dukes's^[1] box, tied in a rag, the money was found.
So next morning we told Whittle^[2], and he fell a swearing:
Then my dame Wadgar^[3] came; and she, you know, is thick of hearing.
Dame, said I, as loud as I could bawl, do you know what a loss I have had?
Nay, said she, my lord Colway's^[4] folks are all very sad:
For my lord Dromedary^[5] comes a Tuesday without fail.
Pugh! said I, but that's not the business that I ail.

1. Wife to one of the footmen.
2. Earl of Berkeley's valet.
3. The old deaf housekeeper.
4. Galway.
5. The earl of Drogheda, who with the primate was to succeed the two earls.