A PORTRAIT FROM THE LIFE

Come sit by my side, while this picture I draw:

In chattering a magpie, in pride a jackdaw;

A temper the devil himself could not bridle;

Impertinent mixture of busy and idle;

As rude as a bear, no mule half so crabbed;

She swills like a sow, and she breeds like a rabbit;

A housewife in bed, at table a slattern;

For all an example, for no one a pattern.

Now tell me, friend Thomas,[1] Ford,[2] Grattan,[3] and Merry Dan,[4]

Has this any likeness to good Madam Sheridan?

[Footnote 1: Dr. Thos. Sheridan.]

[Footnote 2: Chas. Ford, of Woodpark, Esq.]

[Footnote 3: Rev. John Grattan.]

[Footnote 4: Rev. Daniel Jackson.]

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 · 第 264 / 310 题