The County of Mayo

ON THE deck of Patrick Lynch's boat I sat in woeful

plight,

Through my sighing all the weary day, and weeping all the

night,

Were it not that full of sorrow from my people forth I go, By the blessed sun! 'tis royally I'd sing thy praise, Mayo!

When I dwelt at home in plenty, and my gold did much abound,

In the company of fair young maids the Spanish ale went round

'Tis a bitter change from those gay days that now I'm forced

to go,

And must leave my bones in Santa Cruz, far from my own

Mayo.

They are altered girls in Irrul now; 'tis proud they're grown and high,

With their hair-bags and their top-knots—for I pass their buckles by;

But it's little now I heed their airs, for God will have it so, That I must depart for foreign lands, and leave my sweet

Mayo.

Translated by GEORGE Fox.

PART V

SATIRES AND LAMENTS

On Himself

N RAINY days alone I dine

ON

Upon a chick and pint of wine.
On rainy days I dine alone

And pick my chicken to the bone;
But this my servants much enrages,
No scraps remain to save board-wages.
In weather fine I nothing spend,
But often spunge upon a friend;
Yet, where he's not so rich as I,
I pay my club, and so good-bye.

JONATHAN SWIFT.

On An Ill-Managed House

LET me thy properties explain:
A rotten cabin dropping rain:
Chimneys, with scorn rejecting smoke;
Stools, tables, chairs, and bedsteads broke.
Here elements have lost their uses,
Air ripens not, nor earth produces :
In vain we make poor Sheelah toil,
Fire will not roast, nor water boil.
Through all the valleys, hills, and plains,
The Goddess Want, in triumph reigns:
And her chief officers of state,
Sloth, Dirt, and Theft, around her wait.
JONATHAN SWIFT.