Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7.djvu/47

Rh Farther, we are by Pliny told, This serpent is extremely cold; So cold, that put it in the fire, 'Twill make the very flames expire: Besides, it spews a filthy froth (Whether through rage or lust, or both) Of matter purulent and white, Which, happening on the skin to light, And there corrupting to a wound, Spreads leprosy and baldness round. So I have seen a batter'd beau, By age and claps grown cold as snow, Whose breath or touch, where'er he came, Blew out love's torch, or chill'd the flame: And should some nymph, who ne'er was cruel, Like Charlton cheap, or fam'd Du-Ruel, Receive the filth which he ejects, She soon would find the same effects, Her tainted carcase to pursue, As from the salamander's spew; A dismal shedding of her locks, And, if no leprosy, a pox. "Then I'll appeal to each by-stander, If this be not a salamander?"

fills the trump of fame, The Christian worlds his deeds proclaim, And prints are crowded with his name. Rh