Now you fee, why his verfes fo feldom are shown: If I light on a thought, he'll certainly steal it, v To write a few verfes on you, as my friend I ftudied a fortnight before I could find,. As I rode in my chariot, a thought to my mind, 65 73 And refoly'd the next winter, (for that is my time, 75 (For I think in my confcience he deals with old nick), Zi 3. 85 the writing was not inverted on that fide of the glass at which Stella looked, it must neceffarily be inverted in her eyes. Hawkef. High treason by ftatute! but here you object, And we order our subjects of ev'ry degree 55 95 101 But will now be her friend, whenever she pleases : And the gifts I beftow'd her will find her a lover, 105 Tho' fhe lives to be grey as a badger all over. An ELEGY on the much lamented death of Mr DEMAR, the famous rich ufurer, who died the fixth of July 1720*. K Written in the year 1720. NOW all men by these prefents, Death the tamer By mortgage hath fecur'd the corpfe of Demar : Nor can four bundred thousand Sterling pound Redeem him from his prifon under ground. His heirs might well, of all his wealth poffefs'd, 5 Bestow to bury him one iron cheft. This elegy was a subject started and partly executed in company, confifting of Swift and Stella, and a few friends. Every one threw in a hint; and Stella's were the 31st, 32d, 33d, and 34th lines. Hawkef. ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF MR DEMAR. 271 Plutus the god of wealth will joy to know His faithful steward in the fhades below. He walk'd the streets, and wore a threadbare cloak; He us'd them full as kindly as himself. 10 WHERE-E'ER he went, he never faw his betters; 15 Lords, knights, and 'quires, were all his humble debtors; And under hand and seal the Irish nation Were forc'd to own to him their obligation. He that could once have half a kingdom bought, In half a minute is not worth a groat. His coffers from the coffin could not fave, OLD as he was, no vulgar known disease Blew his laft breath to fink the lighter scale. THE Sexton fhall green fods on thee bestow : A difmal banker must that banker be,. Who gives no bills but of mortality †. * A tavern in Dublin where Demar kept his office. + See an epitaph on this mifer, p. 182. 20 25 30 35 40 The Run upon the BANKERS. Written in the year 1720. I. THE bold incroachers on the deep Gain by degrees huge tracts of land, Till Neptune with one gen'ral sweep Turns all again to barren strand. II. The multitude's capricious pranks Money, the life blood of the nation, 5 Unless a proper circulation Its motion and its heat maintains. IV. Becaufe 'tis lordly not to pay, Quakers and aldermen in ftate Like peers have levees ev'ry day 15 V. We want our money on the nail; * VI. Solomon. 20 Conceive the works of midnight-hags, Thus bankers o'er their bills and bags IX. Conceive the whole inchantment broke; The witches left in open air, With pow'r no more than other folk, Expos'd with all their magic ware. X. 30 35. So powerful are a banker's bills, Where creditors demand their due; They break up counters, doors, and tills, 40 XI. Thus when an earthquake lets in light He hides within his dark eft cell XII. As when a conj'rer takes a leafe From Satan for a term of years, The tenant's in a difmal cafe, Whene'er the bloody bond appears ‡. 45 It is faid of Nero, that when he first came to the imperial dignity from the tutorage of Seneca, being asked to fign a warrant for an execution, he wished he could not write. Hawkef. Witches were fabled to torment the abfent, by roasting or o therways ill treating their images in wax. Hawkes. Thefe contracts were always fuppofed to be figned with blood. Hawkef. |