HERRINGS

Be not sparing,

Leave off swearing.

Buy my herring

Fresh from Malahide,[1]

Better never was tried.

Come, eat them with pure fresh butter and mustard,

Their bellies are soft, and as white as a custard.

Come, sixpence a-dozen, to get me some bread,

Or, like my own herrings, I soon shall be dead.

[Footnote 1: Malahide, a village five miles from Dublin, famous for

oysters.--_F_.]

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1 · 第 203 / 243 题