set out,
We went to take leave of the queen;
Where were great men of worth,
Great heads and so forth,
The greatest that ever were seen:
And she gave us a large
And particular charge;--
Good part on't indeed
Is quite out of my head;--
But I remember she said,
We should recommend peace and good neighbourhood, wheresoever we came;
and so I do here;
For that every one, not only men and their wives,
Should do all that they can to lead peaceable lives;
And told us withal, that she fully expected
A special account how ye all stood affected;
When we've been at St. James's, you'll hear of the matter.
Again then I charge ye,
Ye men of the clergy,
That ye follow the track all
Of your own Bishop Blackall,
And preach, as ye should,
What's savoury and good;
And together all cling,
As it were, in a string;
Not falling out, quarrelling one with another,
Now we're treating with Monsieur,--that son of his mother.
Then proceeded on the common matters of the law; and concluded:
Once more, and no more, since few words are best,
I charge you all present, by way of request,
If ye honour, as I do,
Our dear royal widow,
Or have any compassion
For church or the nation;
And would live a long while
In continual smile,
And eat roast and boil,
And not be forgotten,
When ye are dead and rotten;
That ye would be quiet, and peaceably dwell,
And never fall out, but p--s all in a quill.
[Footnote 1: Dr. Offspring Blackall. He was made Bishop of Exeter in
1707, and died in 1716.--_Scott_.]
[Footnote 2: Swift hated the word "mob," and insisted that the proper
word to use was "rabble." See "Letters of Swift," edit. Birkbeck Hill, p.
55; and "Prose Works," ix, p. 35, _n.--_W. E. B._]
PARODY ON THE RECORDER'S SPEECH
TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ORMOND, 4TH JULY, 1711
This city can omit no opportunity of expressing their hearty affection
for her majesty's person and government; and their regard for your grace,
who has the honour of representing her in this kingdom.
We retain, my lord, a grateful remembrance of the mild and just
Administration of the government of this kingdom by your noble ancestors;
and, when we consider the share your grace had in the happy Revolution,
in 1688, and the many good laws you have procured us since, particularly
that for preventing the farther growth
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