Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7.djvu/98

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86
SWIFT'S POEMS.

But you resolv'd to have your jest,135
And 'twas a folly to contest;
Then, since you now have done your worst,
Pray leave me where you found me first."





IMITATION OF PART OF THE SIXTH SATIRE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE. 1714.


[1] I'VE often wish'd that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a year,
A handsome house to lodge a friend,
A river at my garden's end,
A terrace walk, and half a rood 5
Of land, set out to plant a wood.
Well, now I have all this and more,
I ask not to increase my store;
["[2] But here a grievance seems to lie,
All this is mine but till I die; 10
I can't but think 'twould sound more clever,
To me and to my heirs for ever.
"If I ne'er got or lost a groat,
By any trick, or any fault;
And if I pray by reason's rules,15

And not like forty other fools:

" As

  1. 1. Hoc erat in votis: modus agri non ita magnus,
    Hortus ubi, et tecto vicinus jugis aquæ fons,
    7. Et paulum silvæ super his foret. Auctius atque
    Dii melius fecere.——
  2. The twenty lines within hooks were added by Mr. Pope.

37. Sive