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The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 18/On Gallstown House

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Answer to Dr. Sheridan's Prologue, and to Dr. Swift's Epilogue, in behalf of the distressed Weavers
The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 18
 (c. 1710–1730)
by Patrick Delany, edited by Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, John Boyle, Patrick Delany, John Hawkesworth, Deane Swift, William Bowyer, John Birch, and George Faulkner
On Gallstown House
On the Great Buried Bottle
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ON GALLSTOWN HOUSE[1].


BY DR. DELANY[2].


'TIS so old, and so ugly, and yet so convenient,
You're sometimes in pleasure, though often in pain in't.
'Tis so large you may lodge a few friends with ease in't,
You may turn and stretch at your length if you please in't;
'Tis so little, the family live in a press in't,
And poor lady Betty[3] has scarce room to dress in't;
​'Tis so cold in the winter, you can't bear to lie in't,
And so hot in the summer, you're ready to fry in't;
'Tis so brittle 'twould scarce bear the weight of a tun,
Yet so staunch, that, it keeps out a great deal of sun;
'Tis so crazy, the weather with ease beats quite through it,
And you're forced every year, in some part to renew it;
'Tis so ugly, so useful, so big, and so little,
'Tis so staunch, and so crazy, so strong, and so brittle,
'Tis at one time so hot, and another so cold,
It is part of the new, and part of the old;
It is just half a blessing, and just half a curse —
I wish then, dear George, it were better or worse.


  1. ↑ The seat of George Rochfort, esq., father to the earl of Belvidere. Several pleasantries of this gentleman, Dr. Delany, and a groupe of their intimate friends, are to be found in different parts of this collection.
  2. ↑ See the dean's poetical epistle to this gentleman, vol. VII, page 150.
  3. ↑ Daughter of the earl of Drogheda, and married to George Rochfort, esq.
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