Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 17.djvu/459

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MARY GULLIVER

TO

CAPTAIN LEMUEL GULLIVER.

ARGUMENT.

The captain, some time after his return, beine retired to Mr. Sympson's in the country, Mrs. Gulliver, apprehending from his late behaviour, some estrangement of his affections, writes him the following expostulating, soothing and tenderly complaining epistle.

WELCOME, thrice welcome to thy native place!
— What, touch me not? what, shun a wife's embrace?
Have I for this thy tedious absence born,
And wak'd, and wish'd whole nights for thy return?
In five long years I took no second spouse;
What Redriff wife so long hath kept her vows?
Your eyes, your nose, inconstancy betray;
Your nose you stop, your eyes you turn away.
'Tis said, that thou should'st "cleave unto thy wife;"
Once thou didst cleave, and I could cleave for life.
Hear, and relent! hark, how thy children moan!
Be kind at least to these: they are thy own:
Be bold, and count them all; secure to find
The honest number that you left behind.
See how they pat thee with their pretty paws:
Why start you? are they snakes? or have they claws?
Thy christian seed, our mutual flesh and bone:
Be kind at least to these; they are thy own.