A Pastoral Dialogue
In spight of Pope, in spight of Gay,And all that he or they can say;Sing on I must, and sing I will,Of Richmond Lodge and Marble Hill.Last Friday night, as neighbours use,This couple met to talk of news:For, by old proverbs, it appears,That walls have tongues, and hedges ears.
Quoth Marble Hill, right well I ween,Your mistress now is grown a queen;You'll find it soon by woful proof,She'll come no more beneath your roof.
The kingly prophet well evinces,That we should put no trust in princes:My royal master promised meTo raise me to a high degree:But now he's grown a king, God wot,I fear I shall be soon forgot.You see, when folks have got their ends,How quickly they neglect their friends;Yet I may say, 'twixt me and you,Pray God, they now may find as true!
My house was built but for a show,My lady's empty pockets know;And now she will not have a shilling,To raise the stairs, or build the ceiling;For all the courtly madams roundNow pay four shillings in the pound;'Tis come to what I always thought:My dame is hardly worth a groat.Had you and I been courtiers born,We should not thus have lain forlorn;For those we dext'rous courtiers call,Can rise upon their masters' fall:But we, unlucky and unwise,Must fall because our masters rise.
My master, scarce a fortnight since,Was grown as wealthy as a prince;But now it will be no such thing,For he'll be poor as any king;And by his crown will nothing get,But like a king to run in debt.
No more the Dean, that grave divine,Shall keep the key of my (no) wine;My ice-house rob, as heretofore,And steal my artichokes no more;Poor Patty Blount no more be seenBedraggled in my walks so green:Plump Johnny Gay will now elope;And here no more will dangle Pope.
Here wont the Dean, when he's to seek,To spunge a breakfast once a-week;To cry the bread was stale, and mutterComplaints against the royal butter.But now I fear it will be said,No butter sticks upon his bread.We soon shall find him full of spleen,For want of tattling to the queen;Stunning her royal ears with talking;His reverence and her highness walking:While Lady Charlotte, like a stroller,Sits mounted on the garden-roller.A goodly sight to see her ride,With ancient Mirmont at her side.In velvet cap his head lies warm,His hat, for show, beneath his arm.
Some South-Sea broker from the cityWill purchase me, the more's the pity;Lay all my fine plantations waste,To fit them to his vulgar taste:Chang'd for the worse in ev'ry part,My master Pope will break his heart.
In my own Thames may I be drownded,If e'er I stoop beneath a crown'd head:Except her majesty prevailsTo place me with the Prince of Wales;And then I shall be free from fears,For he'll be prince these fifty years.I then will turn a courtier too,And serve the times as others do.Plain loyalty, not built on hope,I leave to your contriver, Pope;None loves his king and country better,Yet none was ever less their debtor.
Then let him come and take a napIn summer on my verdant lap;Prefer our villas, where the Thames is,To Kensington, or hot St. James's;Nor shall I dull in silence sit;For 'tis to me he owes his wit;My groves, my echoes, and my birds,Have taught him his poetic words.We gardens, and you wildernesses,Assist all poets in distresses.Him twice a-week I here expect,To rattle Moody for neglect;An idle rogue, who spends his quartridgeIn tippling at the Dog and Partridge;And I can hardly get him downThree times a-week to brush my gown.
Words in this poem 22
- spight n.
- A woodpecker. See Speight.
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
- woful a.
- Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity; afflicted; wretched; unhappy; sad.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- courtly a.
- Relating or belonging to a court. [From Court.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- groat n.
- An old English silver coin, equal to four pence. [LG. grote, orig., great, that is, a great piece of coin, larger than other coins in former use. See Great.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- fortnight n.
- The space of fourteen days; two weeks. [Contr. fr. fourteen nights, our ancestors reckoning time by nights and winters; so, also, seven nights, sennight, a week.]
- johnny n.
- A familiar diminutive of John.
- dangle v. i.
- To hang loosely, or with a swinging or jerking motion. [Akin to Dan. dangle, dial. Sw. dangla, Dan. dingle, Sw. dingla, Icel. dingla; perh. from E. ding.]
- tattling a.
- Given to idle talk; apt to tell tales.
- stunning a.
- Overpowering consciousness; overpowering the senses; especially, overpowering the sense of hearing; confounding with noise.
- highness n.
- The state of being high; elevation; loftiness. [AS. heáhnes.]
- charlotte n.
- A kind of pie or pudding made by lining a dish with slices of bread, and filling it with bread soaked in milk, and baked. Charlotte Russe (, or Charlotte à la russe Etym: [F., lit., Russian charlotte] [F.]
- stroller n.
- One who strolls; a vagrant.
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- courtier n.
- One who is in attendance at the court of a prince; one who has an appointment at court. [From Court.]
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Pastoral Dialogue is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #14353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jonathan Swift, A Pastoral Dialogue, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/a-pastoral-dialogue.html, id L24531.
Form and metre
A Pastoral Dialogue is 100 lines in 10 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDD gayA · sayA · willB · hillB · useC · newsC · appearsD · earsD
- 2 AABB weenA · queenA · proofB · roofB
- 3 AABB--CCDD evincesA · princesA · meB · degreeB · wot · forgot · endsC · friendsC · youD · trueD
- 4 AA--BB--CCDDEE showA · knowA · shilling · ceiling · roundB · poundB · thought · groat · bornC · forlornC · callD · fallD · unwiseE · riseE
- 5 AABBCC sinceA · princeA · thingB · kingB · getC · debtC
- 6 AABBCCDD divineA · wineA · heretoforeB · moreB · seenC · greenC · elopeD · popeD
- 7 AABBCCDDEEFFGG-- seekA · weekA · mutterB · butterB · saidC · breadC · spleenD · queenD · talkingE · walkingE · strollerF · rollerF · rideG · sideG · warm · arm
- 8 AABBCC cityA · pityA · wasteB · tasteB · partC · heartC
- 9 --AABBCCDDEE drownded · head · prevailsA · walesA · fearsB · yearsB · tooC · doC · hopeD · popeD · betterE · debtorE
- 10 AABBCCDD--EEFFGG napA · lapA · isB · james'sB · sitC · witC · birdsD · wordsD · wildernesses · distresses · expectE · neglectE · quartridgeF · partridgeF · downG · gownG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In spight of Pope, in spight of Gay, | 8 | ········ |
| And all that he or they can say; | 8 | ········ |
| Sing on I must, and sing I will, | 8 | ········ |
| Of Richmond Lodge and Marble Hill. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Last Friday night, as neighbours use, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| This couple met to talk of news: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For, by old proverbs, it appears, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That walls have tongues, and hedges ears. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Quoth Marble Hill, right well I ween, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Your mistress now is grown a queen; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You'll find it soon by woful proof, | 8 | ········ |
| She'll come no more beneath your roof. | 8 | ········ |
| The kingly prophet well evinces, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| That we should put no trust in princes: | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| My royal master promised me | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| To raise me to a high degree: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But now he's grown a king, God wot, | 8 | ········ |
| I fear I shall be soon forgot. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| You see, when folks have got their ends, | 8 | ········ |
| How quickly they neglect their friends; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Yet I may say, 'twixt me and you, | 8 | ········ |
| Pray God, they now may find as true! | 8 | ········ |
| My house was built but for a show, | 8 | ········ |
| My lady's empty pockets know; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And now she will not have a shilling, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| To raise the stairs, or build the ceiling; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| For all the courtly madams round | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Now pay four shillings in the pound; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Tis come to what I always thought: | 8 | ·····/·· |
| My dame is hardly worth a groat. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Had you and I been courtiers born, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We should not thus have lain forlorn; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For those we dext'rous courtiers call, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Can rise upon their masters' fall: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But we, unlucky and unwise, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Must fall because our masters rise. | 8 | ····//˘· |
| My master, scarce a fortnight since, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Was grown as wealthy as a prince; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But now it will be no such thing, | 8 | ········ |
| For he'll be poor as any king; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And by his crown will nothing get, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But like a king to run in debt. | 8 | ········ |
| No more the Dean, that grave divine, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Shall keep the key of my (no) wine; | 8 | ········ |
| My ice-house rob, as heretofore, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And steal my artichokes no more; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Poor Patty Blount no more be seen | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Bedraggled in my walks so green: | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Plump Johnny Gay will now elope; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And here no more will dangle Pope. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Here wont the Dean, when he's to seek, | 8 | ········ |
| To spunge a breakfast once a-week; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To cry the bread was stale, and mutter | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Complaints against the royal butter. | 9 | ˘/···/˘/˘ |
| But now I fear it will be said, | 8 | ········ |
| No butter sticks upon his bread. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We soon shall find him full of spleen, | 8 | ········ |
| For want of tattling to the queen; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Stunning her royal ears with talking; | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| His reverence and her highness walking: | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| While Lady Charlotte, like a stroller, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Sits mounted on the garden-roller. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| A goodly sight to see her ride, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With ancient Mirmont at her side. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In velvet cap his head lies warm, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His hat, for show, beneath his arm. | 8 | ········ |
| Some South-Sea broker from the city | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Will purchase me, the more's the pity; | 10 | ·/˘··/··/˘ |
| Lay all my fine plantations waste, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To fit them to his vulgar taste: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Chang'd for the worse in ev'ry part, | 8 | ········ |
| My master Pope will break his heart. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In my own Thames may I be drownded, | 9 | ········· |
| If e'er I stoop beneath a crown'd head: | 9 | ········· |
| Except her majesty prevails | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| To place me with the Prince of Wales; | 8 | ········ |
| And then I shall be free from fears, | 8 | ········ |
| For he'll be prince these fifty years. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I then will turn a courtier too, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And serve the times as others do. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Plain loyalty, not built on hope, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| I leave to your contriver, Pope; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| None loves his king and country better, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Yet none was ever less their debtor. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Then let him come and take a nap | 8 | ········ |
| In summer on my verdant lap; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Prefer our villas, where the Thames is, | 9 | ˘///˘···· |
| To Kensington, or hot St. James's; | 9 | ·/˘˘···/˘ |
| Nor shall I dull in silence sit; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For 'tis to me he owes his wit; | 8 | ········ |
| My groves, my echoes, and my birds, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Have taught him his poetic words. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| We gardens, and you wildernesses, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘ |
| Assist all poets in distresses. | 9 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Him twice a-week I here expect, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To rattle Moody for neglect; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| An idle rogue, who spends his quartridge | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| In tippling at the Dog and Partridge; | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And I can hardly get him down | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Three times a-week to brush my gown. | 8 | ········ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.