WRITTEN IN AUGUST, 1702

I

Once on a time, as old stories rehearse,

A friar would need show his talent in Latin;

But was sorely put to 't in the midst of a verse,

Because he could find no word to come pat in;

Then all in the place

He left a void space,

And so went to bed in a desperate case:

When behold the next morning a wonderful riddle!

He found it was strangely fill'd up in the middle.

CHO. Let censuring critics then think what they list on't;

Who would not write verses with such an assistant?

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1 · 第 50 / 243 题