EPIGRAM[1]

Behold! a proof of _Irish_ sense;

Here _Irish_ wit is seen!

When nothing's left that's worth defence,

We build a magazine.

[Footnote 1: Swift, in his latter days, driving out with his physician,

Dr. Kingsbury, observed a new building, and asked what it was designed

for. On being told that it was a magazine for arms and powder, "Oh! Oh!"

said the Dean, "This is worth remarking; my tablets, as Hamlet says, my

tablets"--and taking out his pocket-book, he wrote the above

epigram.--_W. E. B._]

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 · 第 205 / 310 题