A REPLY, BY SHERIDAN, TO DELANY

I like your collyrium,

Take my eyes, sir, and clear ye 'um,

'Twill gain you a great reputation;

By this you may rise,

Like the doctor so wise,[1]

Who open'd the eyes of the nation.

And these, I must tell ye,

Are bigger than its belly;--

You know, there’s in Livy a story

Of the hands and the feet

Denying of meat,--

Don't I write in the dark like a Tory?

Your water so far goes,

'Twould serve for an Argus,

Were all his whole hundred sore;

So many we read

He had in his head,

Or Ovid's a son of a whore.

For your recipe, sir,

May my lids never stir,

If ever I think once to fee you;

For I'd have you to know,

When abroad I can go,

That it's honour enough, if I see you.

[Footnote 1: Probably Dr. Davenant.]

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 · 第 217 / 310 题