caught as in a noose:
So well contriv'd her toes to pinch,
She'll not have power to stir an inch:
These gaudy shoes must Hannah [7] place
Direct before her lady's face;
The shoes put on, our faithful portress
Admits us in, to storm the fortress,
While tortured madam bound remains,
Like Montezume,[8] in golden chains;
Or like a cat with walnuts shod,
Stumbling at every step she trod.
Sly hunters thus, in Borneo's isle,
To catch a monkey by a wile,
The mimic animal amuse;
They place before him gloves and shoes;
Which, when the brute puts awkward on:
All his agility is gone;
In vain to frisk or climb he tries;
The huntsmen seize the grinning prize.
But let us on our first assault
Secure the larder and the vault;
The valiant Dennis,[9] you must fix on,
And I'll engage with Peggy Dixon:[10]
Then, if we once can seize the key
And chest that keeps my lady's tea,
They must surrender at discretion!
And, soon as we have gain'd possession,
We'll act as other conquerors do,
Divide the realm between us two;
Then, (let me see,) we'll make the knight
Our clerk, for he can read and write.
But must not think, I tell him that,
Like Lorimer [11] to wear his hat;
Yet, when we dine without a friend,
We'll place him at the lower end.
Madam, whose skill does all in dress lie,
May serve to wait on Mrs. Leslie;
But, lest it might not be so proper
That her own maid should over-top her,
To mortify the creature more,
We'll take her heels five inches lower.
For Hannah, when we have no need of her,
'Twill be our interest to get rid of her;
And when we execute our plot,
'Tis best to hang her on the spot;
As all your politicians wise,
Dispatch the rogues by whom they rise.
[Footnote 1: Dr. Swift.]
[Footnote 2: Colonel Henry Leslie, who served and lived long in
Spain.--_Dublin Edition_.]
[Footnote 3: Sir Arthur Acheson.]
[Footnote 4: The Irish name of a farm the Dean took of Sir Arthur
Acheson,
and was to build on, but changed his mind, and called it Drapier's Hill.
See the poem so named, and "The Dean's Reasons for not building at
Drapier's-Hill," _ante_, p.107. _--W. E. B._]
[Footnote 5: A village near Sir Arthur Acheson's.]
[Footnote 6: A parody on the phrase, "As brave as his sword."--_Scott_.]
[Footnote 7: My lady's waiting-maid.]
[Footnote 8: Montezuma or Mutezuma, the last Emperor of Mexico and the
richest, taken prisoner by Hernando Cortes, about 1511, who also obtained
possession of the whole empir
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