Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7.djvu/362

350 We may carve for others thus; And let others carve for us; To discourse, and to attend, Is, to help yourself and friend. Conversation is but carving; Carve for all, yourself is starving: Give no more to every guest, Than he's able to digest; Give him always of the prime; And but little at a time. Carve to all but lust enough: Let them neither starve nor stuff: And, that you may have your due, Let your neighbours carve for you. [This comparison will hold, Could it well in rhyme be told, How conversing, listening, thinking, Justly may resemble drinking; For a friend a glass you fill, What is this but to instill ?] To conclude this long essay; Pardon, if I disobey; Nor against my natural vein, Treat you in heroick strain. I, as all the parish knows, Hardly can be grave in prose: Still to lash, and lashing smile, Ill befits a lofty style. From the planet of my birth I encounter vice wdth mirth. Wicked ministers of state I can easier scorn than hate; And