Verses on the Death of Doctor Swift pt.II

Who would not at a crowded show

Stand high himself, keep others low?

I love my friend as well as you:

But why should he obstruct my view?

Then let me have the higher post:

Suppose it but an inch at most.

If in battle you should find

One whom you love of all mankind,

Had some heroic action done,

A champion killed, or trophy won;

Rather than thus be overtopped,

Would you not wish his laurels cropped?

Dear honest Ned is in the gout,

Lies racked with pain, and you without:

How patiently you hear him groan!

How glad the case is not your own!

Verses on the Death of Doctor Swift pt.I

As Rochefoucauld his maxims drew

From nature, I believe 'em true:

They argue no corrupted mind

In him; the fault is in mankind.

This maxim more than all the rest

Is thought too base for human breast:

"In all distresses of our friends,

We first consult our private ends;

While nature, kindly bent to ease us,

Points out some circumstance to please us."

If this perhaps your patience move,

Let reason and experience prove.

We all behold with envious eyes

Our equal raised above our size.

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