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Captain LE MUEL GULLIVER.

ARGUMEN t.

The captain, Jome time after his return, being retired to Mr. Sympson's in the country, Mrs. Gulliver, apprehending from his late behaviour fome eftrangement of his affections, writes him the following expoftulating, foothing, and tenderly complaining epiftle.

WELCOME, thrice welcome, to thy

native place!

---- What, touch me not? what, shun a wife's embrace?

Have I for this thy tedious abfence borne, And wak'd, and wish'd whole nights for thy return?

In five long years I took no second spouse; What Redriff wife fo long hath kept hervows? Your eyes, your nose, inconftancy betray; Your nose you stop, your eyes you turn away. 'Tis faid, that thou fhould'ft cleave unto thy wife;

Once thou did❜ft cleave, and I could cleave for life.

Hear, and relent! hark how thy children

moan!

Be kind at least to thefe; they are thy own:

Be bold, and count them all; fecure to find The honeft number that you left behind. See how they pat thee with their pretty paws: Why start you? are they fnakes? or have they claws?

Thy chriftian feed, our mutual flesh and

bone:

Be kind at least to these; they are thy own. Biddel, like thee, might fartheft India

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rove;

He chang'd his country, but retain'd his love.

There's captain Pennel abfent half his life, Comes back, and is the kinder to his wife. Yet Pennel's wife is brown compar'd to me, And Mrs. Biddel fure is fifty-three.

Not touch me! never neighbour call'd me

flut:

Was Flimnap's dame more fweet in Lilliput? I've no red hair to breathe an odious fume; At least thy confort's cleaner than thy groom. Why then that dirty ftable-boy thy care? What mean those visits to the forrel mare Say, by what witchcraft, or what dæmon led, Preferr❜ft thou litter to the marriage bed!

Names of the fea-captains mention'd in Gulliver's tra els.

P 2

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Some

Some fay the devil himself is in that mare: If so, our dean fhall drive him forth by pray'r.

Some think you mad, fome think you are poffeft,

That Bedlam and clean straw will fuit you best.

Vain means, alas, this frenzy to appease! That fraw, that straw would heighten the disease.

My bed (the scene of all our former joys, Witness two lovely girls, two lovely boys) Alone I prefs; in dreams I call my dear, I ftretch my hand; no Gulliver is there! I wake, I rife, and fhiv'ring with the froft Search all the houfe; my Gulliver is loft! Forth in the ftreet I rush with frantick cries; The windows open, all the neighbours rife ; Where fleeps my Gulliver? O tell me where ! The neighbours anfwer, "With the forrel

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At early morn I to the market hafte, (Studious in ev'ry thing to please thy taste;) A curious fowl and fparagrafs I chose, (For I remember you were fond of those:) Three fhillings coft the firft, the last fev'n

groats:

Sullen you turn from both, and call for oats. Others

Others bring goods and treasures to their houses,

Something to deck their pretty babes and fpoufes :

My only token was a cup like horn, That's made of nothing but a lady's corn. 'Tis not for that I grieve; no, 'tis to fee The groom and forrel mare preferr'd to me! These, for fome moments when you deign to quit,

And (at due distance) sweet discourse admit, 'Tis all my pleasure thy past toil to know; For pleas'd remembrance builds delight on

woe.

At ev'ry danger pants thy confort's breast, And gaping infants fquawl to hear the rest. How did I tremble, when by thousands

bound

I faw thee ftretch'd on Lilliputian ground? When scaling armies climb'd up ev'ry part, Each step they trod I felt upon my upon my heart. But when thy torrent quench'd the dreadful blaze,

King, queen, and nation ftaring with

amaze,

Full in my view how all my husband came! And what extinguish'd theirs, increas'd my flame.

P 3

Thofe

Thofe fpectacles, ordain'd thine eyes to fave, Were once my prefent; love that armour gave.

How did I mourn at Bolgolam's decree ! For, when he fign'd thy death, he fentenc'd

me.

When folks might fee thee all the country round

For fix pence, I'd have giv'n a thousand pound.

Lord! when the giant-babe that head of

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thine

Got in his mouth, my heart was up in mine!
When in the marrow-bone I fee thee ramm'd,
Or on the house-top by the monkey cramm'd,
The piteous images renew my pain,
And all thy dangers I weep o'er again.
But on the maiden's nipple when you rid,
Pray heav'n, 'twas all a wanton maiden did!
Glumdalclitch too!---with thee I mourn her
cafe:

Heav'n guard the gentle girl from all difgrace!

O may the king that one neglect forgive, And pardon her the fault by which I live! Was there no other way to fet him free! My life, alas! I fear prov'd death to thee.

O teach

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