Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 17.djvu/157

Rh gross mistake, and that she was never in a fairer way: Bring hither the salve, says he, and give her a plentiful draught of my cordial. As he was applying his ointments, and administering the cordial, the patient gave up the ghost, to the great confusion of the quack, and the great joy of Bull and his friends. The quack flung away out of the house in great disorder, and swore there was foul play, for he was sure his medicines were infallible. Mrs. Bull having died without any signs of repentance or devotion, the clergy would hardly allow her a christian burial. The relations had once resolved to sue John for the murder; but considering better of it, and that such a trial would rip up old sores, and discover things not so much to the reputation of the deceased, they dropped their design. She left no will, only there was found in her strong box the following words wrote on a scrip of paper, "My curse on John Bull, and all my posterity, if ever they come to any composition with the lord Strutt."

She left him three daughters, whose names were Polemia, Discordia, and Usuria. Rh