Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7.djvu/267

Rh The smutty wainscot full of cracks; And half the chairs with broken backs: Her quarter's out at Ladyday; She vows she will no longer stay In lodgings like a poor Grizette, While there are houses to be let. Howe'er, to keep her spirits up, She sent for company to sup: When all the while you might remark, She strove in vain to ape Wood Park. Two bottles call'd for (half her store The cupboard could contain but four) A supper worthy of herself, Five nothings in five plates of delf. Thus for a week the farce went on; When, all her country savings gone, She fell into her former scene, Small beer, a herring, and the Dean. Thus far in jest: though now, I fear, You think my jesting too severe; But poets, when a hint is new, Regard not whether false or true: Yet raillery gives no offence, Where truth has not the least pretence; Nor can be more securely plac'd Than on a nymph of Stella's taste. I must confess, your wine and vittle I was too hard upon a little: Your table neat, your linen fine; And though in miniature, you shine: Yet, when you sigh to leave Wood Park, The scene, the welcome, and the spark. To languish in this odious town, And pull your haughty stomach down; We