Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 17.djvu/117

Rh a compliment to the queen and her success in the war; for Belinda gets the better of the two that play against her, viz. the kings of France and Spain.

I do not question but every particular card has its person and character assigned, which, no doubt, the author has told his friends in private; but I shall only instance in the description of the disgrace under which the duke of Marlborough then suffered, which is so apparent in these verses:

Ev'n mighty Pam, that kings and queens o'erthrew, And mow'd down armies in the fights of loo, Sad chance of war! now destitute of aid, Falls undistinguish'd ——

And that the author here had an eye to our modern transactions, is very plain, from an unguarded stroke toward the end of this game:

And now, as oft in some distemper'd state, On one nice trick depends the gen'ral fate.

After the conclusion of the war, the publick rejoicings and thanksgivings are ridiculed in the two following lines:

The nymph, exulting, fills with shouts the sky, The walls, the woods, and long canals reply.

Immediately upon which there follows a malicious insinuation, in the manner of a prophecy (which we have formerly observed this seditious writer delights in) that the peace should continue but a short time, and that the day should afterward be cursed, which was then celebrated with so much joy:

Sudden these honours shall be snatch'd away, And curs'd for ever this victorious day. As