The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 17/Strephon and Flavia

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Strephon and Flavia

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While this work is included within The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift and is not attributed to anyone other than Jonathan Swift, it may have been written by another member of the Scriblerus Club. The club, which was founded in 1714, included Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot, Henry St John, and Thomas Parnell.

STREPHON AND FLAVIA.

WITH ev'ry lady in the land
Soft Strephon kept a pother;
One year he languish'd for one hand,
And next year for the other.

Yet, when his love the shepherd told
To Flavia fair and coy,
Reserv'd, demure, than snow more cold,
She scorn'd the gentle boy.

Late at a ball he own'd his pain:
She blush'd, and frown'd, and swore,
With all the marks of high disdain,
She'd never hear him more.

The swain persisted still to pray,
The nymph still to deny;
At last she vow'd she would not stay;
He swore she should not fly.

Enrag'd, she call'd her footman straight,
And rush'd from out the room.
Drove to her lodging, lock'd the gate,
And lay with Ralph at home.