The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 8/To the Reverend Dr. Swift on His Birthday

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Conclusion from these Epigrams, with Dr. Swift's Answer

The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 8
(1732)
by John Boyle, edited by Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, John Boyle, Patrick Delany, John Hawkesworth, Deane Swift, William Bowyer, John Birch, and George Faulkner

To the Rev. Dr. Swift, by the Earl of Orrery

To the same, by Dr. Delany

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The next poem, To the same, by Dr. Delany, is on the same subject as this poem, and the following poem, The Answer by the Dean, is a response to both this and the next poems.

1568264The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 8
— To the Rev. Dr. Swift, by the Earl of Orrery1732John Boyle

TO THE REVEREND DR. SWIFT.

WITH A PRESENT OF A PAPER BOOK FINELY BOUND, ON HIS BIRTHDAY, NOV. 30, 1732^[1].

BY JOHN EARL OF ORRERY.

TO thee, dear Swift, these spotless leaves I send;
Small is the present, but sincere the friend.
Think not so poor a book below thy care;
Who knows the price that thou canst make it bear?
Though tawdry now, and, like Tyrilla's face,
The specious front shines out with borrow'd grace;
Though pasteboards, glittering like a tinsell'd coat,
A rasa tabula within denote:
Yet, if a venal and corrupted age,
And modern vices, should provoke thy rage;
If, warn'd once more by their impending fate,
A sinking country and an injur'd state
Thy great assistance should again demand,
And call forth reason to defend the land;
Then shall we view these sheets with glad surprise
Inspir'd with thought, and speaking to our eyes:
Each vacant space, shall then, enrich'd, dispense
True force of eloquence, and nervous sense;
Inform the judgment, animate the heart,
And sacred rules of policy impart.
The spangled covering, bright with splendid ore,
Shall cheat the sight with empty show no more:
But lead us inward to those golden mines,
Where all thy soul in native lustre shines.
So when the eye surveys some lovely fair,
With bloom of beauty grac'd, with shape and air;
How is the rapture heighten'd, when we find
Her form excell'd by her celestial mind!

↑ It was occasioned by an annual custom, which I found pursued among his friends, of making him a present on his birthday. Orrery.

[1] It was occasioned by an annual custom, which I found pursued among his friends, of making him a present on his birthday. Orrery.

[1]