Irish Wit and Humor. Anonymous

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СКАЧАТЬ the most eminent of those who professed his own principles publicly disallowed his proceedings. But the cause being so very odious and unpopular, the trial of the verdict was deferred from one term to another, until, upon the arrival of the Duke of Grafton, the Lord Lieutenant, his Grace, after mature advice and permission from England, was pleased to grant a nolle prosequi."

      CHIEF JUSTICE WHITSHED'S MOTTO ON HIS COACH.

      Libertas et natale solum. Liberty and my native country.

      Libertas et natale solum; Fine words! I wonder where you stole 'em: Could nothing but thy chief reproach Serve for a motto on thy coach? But let me now the words translate: Natale solum:—my estate: My dear estate, how well I love it! My tenants, if you doubt, will prove it. They swear I am so kind and good, I hug them till I squeeze their blood. Libertas bears a large import: First, how to swagger in a court; And, secondly, to show my fury Against an uncomplying Jury; And, thirdly, 'tis a new invention To favor Wood, and keep my pension: And fourthly, 'tis to play an odd trick, Get the Great Seal, and turn out Brod'rick. And, fifthly, you know whom I mean, To humble that vexatious Dean; And, sixthly, for my soul to barter it For fifty times its worth to Carteret. Now since your motto thus you construe, I must confess you've spoken once true. Libertas et natale solum, You had good reason when you stole 'em.

      ON THE SAME UPRIGHT CHIEF JUSTICE WHITSHED.

      In church your grandsire cut his throat:

       To do the job too long he tarried,

       He should have had my hearty vote,

       To cut his throat before he married.

      TO QUILCA.

      This was a country house of Dr. Sheridan's, where Swift and some of his friends spent a summer in the year 1725, and being in very bad repair, Swift wrote the following lines on the occasion:—

      Let me thy properties explain;

       A rotten cabin dropping rain:

       Chimneys with scorn rejecting smoke:

       Stools, tables, chairs and bedsteads broke.

       Here elements have lost their uses,

       Air ripens not, nor earth produces:

       In vain we make poor Shelah toil,

       Fire will not roast, nor water boil.

       Through all the valleys, hills, and plains,

       The goddess Want in triumph reigns; And her chief officers of state; Sloth, Dirt, and Theft, around her wait.

      MR. PULTENEY.

      Swift says, in a letter to Mr. Pulteney: "I will do an unmannerly thing, which is to bequeath you an epitaph for forty years hence, in two words, ultimus Britannorum. You never forsook your party. You might often have been as great as the court can make any man so; but you preserved your spirit of liberty when your former colleagues had utterly sacrificed theirs; and if it shall ever begin to breathe in these days, it must entirely be owing to yourself and one or two friends; but it is altogether impossible for any nation to preserve its liberty long under a tenth part of the present luxury, infidelity, and a million of corruptions. We see the Gothic system of limited monarchy is extinguished in all the nations of Europe. It is utterly extirpated in this wretched kingdom, and yours must be next. Such has ever been human nature, that a single man, without any superior advantages either of body or mind, but usually the direct contrary, is able to attach twenty millions, and drag them voluntarily at his chariot wheels. But no more of this: I am as sick of the world as I am of age and disease. I live in a nation of slaves, who sell themselves for nothing."

      RESOLUTIONS WHEN I COME TO BE OLD.

      These resolutions seem to be of that kind which are easily formed, and the propriety of which we readily admit at the time we make them, but secretly never design to put them in practice.

      1. Not to marry a young woman.

      2. Not to keep young company, unless they really desire it.

      3. Not to be peevish, or morose, or suspicious.

      4. Not to scorn present ways, or wits, or fashions, or men, or war, &c.

      5. Not to be fond of children.

      6. Not to tell the same story over and over to the same people.

      7. Not to be covetous.

      8. Not to neglect decency or cleanliness, for fear of falling into nastiness.

      9. Not to be over severe with young people, but to give allowance for their youthful follies and weaknesses.

      10. Not to be influenced by, or give ear to, knavish tattling servants, or others.

      11. Not to be too free of advice, nor trouble any but those who desire it.

      12. To desire some good friends to inform me which of these resolutions I break or neglect, and wherein; and reform accordingly.

      13. Not to talk much, nor of myself.

      14. Not to boast of my former beauty or favor with ladies, &c.

      15. Not to hearken to flatteries, or believe I can be beloved by a young woman.

      16. Not to be positive or opiniative.

      17. Not to set up for observing all these rules, for fear I should observe none.

      MISS BENNET.

      This lady was a celebrated beauty in her day, and often mentioned by Swift. Dr. Arbuthnot thus speaks of her in one of his letters: "Amongst other things, I had the honor to carry an Irish lady to court that was admired beyond all the ladies in France for her beauty. She had great honors done her. The hussar himself was ordered to bring her the King's cat to kiss. Her name is Bennet."

      This circumstance gave rise to the following lines by the Dean:—

      For when as Nelly came to France,

       (Invited by her cousins)

       Across the Tuileries each glance Kill'd Frenchmen by whole dozens.

      The king, as he at dinner sat,

       Did beckon to his hussar,

       And bid him bring his tabby cat

       For charming Nell to buss her.

      The ladies were with rage provok'd,

       To see her so respected;

       The men look'd arch as Nelly strok'd,

       And puss her tail erected.

      But not a man did look СКАЧАТЬ