The monarchy’s fixt,
    By making on’t mixt,
And by non-resistance o’erthrown;
    And preaching obedience
    Destroys our allegiance,
And thus the Whigs prop up the throne.

    That viceroy [2] is best,
    That would take off the test,
And made a sham speech to attempt it;
    But being true blue,
    When he found ’twould not do,
Swore, damn him, if ever he meant it.

    ’Tis no news that Tom Double
    The nation should bubble,
Nor is’t any wonder or riddle,
    That a parliament rump
    Should play hop, step, and jump,
And dance any jig to his fiddle.

    But now, sir, they tell,
    How Sacheverell,
By bringing old doctrines in fashion,
    Hath, like a damn’d rogue,
    Brought religion in vogue,
And so open’d the eyes of the nation.

    Then let’s pray without spleen,
    May God bless the queen,
And her fellow-monarchs the people;
    May they prosper and thrive,
    Whilst I am alive,
And so may the church with the steeple.

[Footnote 1:  Alluding to the year 1641, when the great rebellion broke out. Scott.]

[Footnote 2:  Lord Wharton.]

ATLAS; OR, THE MINISTER OF STATE[1]

TO THE LORD TREASURER OXFORD
1710

Atlas, we read in ancient song,
Was so exceeding tall and strong,
He bore the skies upon his back,
Just as the pedler does his pack;
But, as the pedler overpress’d
Unloads upon a stall to rest,
Or, when he can no longer stand
Desires a friend to lend a hand;
So Atlas, lest the ponderous spheres
Should sink, and fall about his ears,
Got Hercules to bear the pile,
That he might sit and rest awhile. 
  Yet Hercules was not so strong,
Nor could have borne it half so long. 
Great statesmen are in this condition;
And Atlas is a politician,
A premier minister of state;
Alcides one of second rate. 
Suppose then Atlas ne’er so wise;
Yet, when the weight of kingdoms lies
Too long upon his single shoulders,
Sink down he must, or find upholders.

[Footnote 1:  In these free, and yet complimentary verses, Swift cautions Oxford against his greatest political error, that affectation of mystery, and wish of engrossing the whole management of public affairs, which first disgusted, and then alienated, Harcourt and Bolingbroke.  On this point our author has spoken very fully in the “Free Thoughts upon.  The present State of Affairs.”—­Scott.  See “Prose Works,” v, 391.—­W.  E. B. ]

LINES WRITTEN EXTEMPORE ON MR. HARLEY’S BEING STABBED, AND ADDRESSED TO HIS PHYSICIAN, 1710-11 [1]

On Britain Europe’s safety lies,
Britain is lost if Harley dies: 
Harley depends upon your skill: 
Think what you save, or what you kill.