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The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 8/A Vindication of the Libel

< The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift‎ | Volume 8
​

A VINDICATION OF THE LIBEL:


OR,


A NEW BALLAD,


Written by a Shoeboy, on an Attorney who was formerly a Shoeboy.


"Qui color ater erat, nunc est contrarius atro."


WITH singing of ballads, and crying of news,
With whitening of buckles, and blacking of shoes,
Did Hartley[1] set out, both shoeless and shirtless,
And moneyless too, but not very dirtless;
Two pence he had gotten by begging, that's all;
One bought him a brush, and one a black ball;
For clouts at a loss he could not be much,
The clothes on his back as being but such;
Thus vamp'd and accoutred, with clouts, ball, and brush,
He gallantly ventur'd his fortune to push:
Vespasian thus, being bespatter'd with dirt,
Was omen'd to be Rome's emperor for 't.
But as a wise fiddler is noted you know,
To have a good couple of strings to one bow;
So Hartley judiciously thought it too little,
To live by the sweat of his hands and his spittle:
He finds out another profession as fit,
And straight he becomes a retailer of wit.
​One day he cried — "Murders, and songs, and great news!"
Another as loudly — "Here blacken your shoes!"
At Domvile's[2] full often he fed upon bits,
For winding of jacks up, and turning of spits;
Lick'd all the plates round, had many a grubbing,
And now and then got from the cook-maid a drubbing:
Such bastings effect upon him could have none:
The dog will be patient that's struck with a bone.
Sir Thomas, observing this Hartley withal
So expert and so active at brushes and ball,
Was mov'd with compassion, and thought it a pity
A youth should be lost, that had been so witty:
Without more ado, he vamps up my spark,
And now we'll suppose him an eminent clerk;
Suppose him an adept in all the degrees
Of scribbling cum dasho, and hooking of fees;
Suppose him a miser, attorney per bill,
Suppose him a courtier — suppose what you will —
Yet would you believe, though I swore by the Bible,
That he took up two news-boys for crying the libel?

  1. ↑ See the next poem.
  2. ↑ Sir T. Domvile, patentee of the Hanaper office.
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