Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 17.djvu/273

Rh see a better thing than all that. What shouldst thou think to find old Lewis turned out of his paternal estates, and the mansion-house of Claypool ? Would not that do thy heart good, to see thy old friend Nic. Frog, lord of Claypool ? that thou and thy wife and children should walk in my gardens, buy toys, drink lemonade, and now and then we should have a country dance.

J. B. I love to be plain, I'd as lieve see myself in Ecclesdown castle, as thee in Claypool. I tell you again, Lewis gives this as a pledge of his sincerity; if you won't stop proceeding to hear him, I will.

When Nic. could not dissuade John by argument, he tried to move his pity; he pretended to be sick and like to die, that he should leave his wife and children in a starving condition, if John did abandon him; that he was hardly able to crawl about the room, far less capable to look after such a troublesome business as this lawsuit, and therefore begged that his good friend would not leave him. When he saw