Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 8.djvu/35

Rh A stock may chance to wear a crown, And timber as a lord take place; A statue may put on a frown, And cheat us with a thinking face. Others are blindly led away, And made to act for ends unknown; By the mere spring of wires they play, And speak in language not their own. Too oft, alas! a scolding wife Usurps a jolly fellow's throne; And many drink the cup of life, Mix'd and embitter'd by a Joan. In short, whatever men pursue, Of pleasure, folly, war, or love; This mimick race brings all to view: Alike they dress, they talk, they move. Go on, great Stretch, with artful hand, Mortals to please and to deride; And, when death breaks thy vital band, Thou shalt put on a puppet's pride. Thou shalt in puny wood be shown, Thy image shall preserve thy fame; Ages to come thy worth shall own, Point at thy limbs, and tell thy name. Tell Tom, he draws a farce in vain, Before he looks in Nature's glass; Puns cannot form a witty scene, Nor pedantry for humour pass. To make men act as senseless wood, And chatter in a mystick strain, Is a mere force on flesh and blood, And shows some errour in the brain. He