Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 8.djvu/219

Rh These demoniacks let me dub With the name of Legion club. Such assemblies, you might swear, Meet when butchers bait a bear; Such a noise, and such haranguing, When a brother thief is hanging; Such a rout and such a rabble Run to hear Jackpudding gabble: Such a crowd their ordure throws On a far less villain's nose. Could I from the building's top Hear the rattling thunder drop, While the devil upon the roof (If the devil be thunder-proof) Should with poker fiery red Crack the stones, and melt the lead; Drive them down on every scull, When the den of thieves is full; Quite destroy the harpies' nest; How might then our isle be blest! For divines allow, that God Sometimes makes the devil his rod; And the Gospel will inform us, He can punish sins enormous. Yet should Swift endow the schools, For his lunaticks and fools, With a rood or two of land; I allow the pile may stand. You perhaps will ask me, Why so? But it is with this proviso: Since the house is like to last, Let the royal grant be pass'd, That the club have right to dwell Each within his proper cell,. VIII.