‘A fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind.’

No liberty has been taken with the translation of this remarkable piece of antiquity, except the suppressing a seditious and blasphemous Chorus of the Pigs and Bulls at the last Act.  The work Hoydipouse (or more properly Oedipus) has been rendered literally SWELLFOOT, without its having been conceived necessary to determine whether a swelling of the hind or the fore feet of the Swinish Monarch is particularly indicated.

Should the remaining portions of this Tragedy be found, entitled, “Swellfoot in Angaria”, and “Charite”, the Translator might be tempted to give them to the reading Public.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

TYRANT SWELLFOOT, KING OF THEBES. 
IONA TAURINA, HIS QUEEN. 
MAMMON, ARCH-PRIEST OF FAMINE. 
PURGANAX, DAKRY, LAOCTONOS—­WIZARDS, MINISTERS OF SWELLFOOT. 
THE GADFLY. 
THE LEECH. 
THE RAT. 
MOSES, THE SOW-GELDER. 
SOLOMON, THE PORKMAN. 
ZEPHANIAH, PIG-BUTCHER. 
THE MINOTAUR. 
CHORUS OF THE SWINISH MULTITUDE. 
GUARDS, ATTENDANTS, PRIESTS, ETC., ETC.

SCENE.—­THEBES.

ACT 1.

SCENE 1.1.—­A MAGNIFICENT TEMPLE, BUILT OF THIGH-BONES AND
DEATH’S-HEADS, AND TILED WITH SCALPS.  OVER THE ALTAR THE STATUE OF
FAMINE, VEILED; A NUMBER OF BOARS, SOWS, AND SUCKING-PIGS, CROWNED
WITH THISTLE, SHAMROCK, AND OAK, SITTING ON THE STEPS, AND CLINGING
ROUND THE ALTAR OF THE TEMPLE.

ENTER SWELLFOOT, IN HIS ROYAL ROBES, WITHOUT PERCEIVING THE PIGS.

SWELLFOOT: 
Thou supreme Goddess! by whose power divine
These graceful limbs are clothed in proud array
[HE CONTEMPLATES HIMSELF WITH SATISFACTION.]
Of gold and purple, and this kingly paunch
Swells like a sail before a favouring breeze,
And these most sacred nether promontories 5
Lie satisfied with layers of fat; and these
Boeotian cheeks, like Egypt’s pyramid,
(Nor with less toil were their foundations laid),
Sustain the cone of my untroubled brain,
That point, the emblem of a pointless nothing! 10
Thou to whom Kings and laurelled Emperors,
Radical-butchers, Paper-money-millers,
Bishops and Deacons, and the entire army
Of those fat martyrs to the persecution
Of stifling turtle-soup, and brandy-devils, 15
Offer their secret vows!  Thou plenteous Ceres
Of their Eleusis, hail!

NOTE:  (8 See Universal History for an account of the number of people who died, and the immense consumption of garlic by the wretched Egyptians, who made a sepulchre for the name as well as the bodies of their tyrants.—­[SHELLEY’S NOTE.])

SWINE: 
Eigh! eigh! eigh! eigh!

SWELLFOOT: 
Ha! what are ye,
Who, crowned with leaves devoted to the Furies,
Cling round this sacred shrine?

SWINE: 
Aigh! aigh! aigh!