PROBATUR ALITER

A long-ear'd beast, and a field-house for cattle,

Among the coals doth often rattle.[1]

A long-ear'd beast, a bird that prates,

The bridegrooms' first gift to their mates,

Is by all pious Christians thought,

In clergymen the greatest fault.[2]

A long-ear'd beast, and woman of Endor,

If your wife be a scold, that will mend her.[3]

With a long-ear'd beast, and medicine's use,

Cooks make their fowl look tight and spruce.[4]

A long-ear'd beast, and holy fable,

Strengthens the shoes of half the rabble.[5]

A long-ear'd beast, and Rhenish wine,

Lies in the lap of ladies fine.[6]

A long-ear'd beast, and Flanders College,

Is Dr. T----l, to my knowledge.[7]

A long-ear'd beast, and building knight,

Censorious people do in spite.[8]

A long-ear'd beast, and bird of night,

We sinners art too apt to slight.[9]

A long-ear'd beast, and shameful vermin,

A judge will eat, though clad in ermine.[10]

A long-ear'd beast, and Irish cart,

Can leave a mark, and give a smart.[11]

A long-ear'd beast, in mud to lie,

No bird in air so swift can fly.[12]

A long-ear'd beast, and a sputt'ring old Whig,

I wish he were in it, and dancing a jig.[13]

A long-ear'd beast, and liquor to write,

Is a damnable smell both morning and night.[14]

A long-ear'd beast, and the child of a sheep,

At Whist they will make a desperate sweep.[15]

A beast long-ear'd, and till midnight you stay,

Will cover a house much better than clay.[16]

A long-ear'd beast, and the drink you love best,

You call him a sloven in earnest for jest.[17]

A long-ear'd beast, and the sixteenth letter,

I'd not look at all unless I look'd better.[18]

A long-ear'd beast give me, and eggs unsound,

Or else I will not ride one inch of ground.[19]

A long-ear'd beast, another name for jeer,

To ladies' skins there nothing comes so near.[20]

A long-ear'd beast, and kind noise of a cat,

Is useful in journeys, take notice of that.[21]

A long-ear'd beast, and what seasons your beef,

On such an occasion the law gives relief.[22]

A long-ear'd beast, a thing that force must drive in,

Bears up his house, that's of his own contriving.[23]

[Footnote 1: A shovel.]

[Footnote 2: Aspiring.]

[Footnote 3: A switch.]

[Footnote 4: A skewer.]

[Footnote 5: A sparable; a small nail in a shoe.]

[Footnote 6: A shock.]

[Footnote 7: A sloven.]

[Footnote 8: Asperse. (Pearce was an architect, who built the

Parliament-House, Dublin.)]

[Footnote 9: A soul.]

[Footnote 10: A slice.]

[Footnote 11: A scar.]

[Footnote 12: A swallow.]

[Footnote 13: A sty.]

[Footnote 14: A sink.]

[Footnote 15: A slam.]

[Footnote 16: A slate.]

[Footnote 17: A swine.]

[Footnote 18: Askew.]

[Footnote 19: A saddle.]

[Footnote 20: A smock.]

[Footnote 21: A spur.]

[Footnote 22: Assault.]

[Footnote 23: A snail.]

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 · 第 66 / 310 题