On the Archbishop of Cashel, and Bettesworth
Dear Dick, pr'ythee tell by what passion you move?The world is in doubt whether hatred or love;And, while at good Cashel you rail with such spite,They shrewdly suspect it is all but a bite.You certainly know, though so loudly you vapour,His spite cannot wound who attempted the Drapier.Then, pr'ythee, reflect, take a word of advice;And, as your old wont is, change sides in a trice:On his virtues hold forth; 'tis the very best way;And say of the man what all honest men say.But if, still obdurate, your anger remains,If still your foul bosom more rancour contains,Say then more than they, nay, lavishly flatter;Tis your gross panegyrics alone can bespatter;For thine, my dear Dick, give me leave to speak plain,Like very foul mops, dirty more than they clean.
Words in this poem
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
- trice v. t.
- To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley,]
- rancour n.
- The deepest malignity or spite; deep-seated enmity or malice; inveterate hatred. [OE. rancour, OF. rancor, rancur, F. rancune, fr. L. rancor rancidity, rankness; tropically, an old grudge, rancor, fr. rancere to be rank or rancid.]
- lavishly adv.
- In a lavish manner.
- bespatter v. t.
- To soil by spattering; to sprinkle, esp. with dirty water, mud, or anything which will leave foul spots or stains.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Archbishop of Cashel, and Bettesworth is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #13621; 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, On the Archbishop of Cashel, and Bettesworth, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/on-the-archbishop-of-cashel-and-bettesworth.html, id L09352.
Form and metre
On the Archbishop of Cashel, and Bettesworth is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH moveA · loveA · spiteB · biteB · vapourC · drapierC · adviceD · triceD · wayE · sayE · remainsF · containsF · flatterG · bespatterG · plainH · cleanH
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dear Dick, pr'ythee tell by what passion you move? | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| The world is in doubt whether hatred or love; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And, while at good Cashel you rail with such spite, | 11 | ··········· |
| They shrewdly suspect it is all but a bite. | 11 | ·/˘/······· |
| You certainly know, though so loudly you vapour, | 12 | ·/˘˘···/˘·/˘ |
| His spite cannot wound who attempted the Drapier. | 12 | ··˘/··˘/˘··· |
| Then, pr'ythee, reflect, take a word of advice; | 11 | ·/˘˘/····˘/ |
| And, as your old wont is, change sides in a trice: | 11 | ··········· |
| On his virtues hold forth; 'tis the very best way; | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| And say of the man what all honest men say. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| But if, still obdurate, your anger remains, | 11 | ···/˘˘·/˘˘/ |
| If still your foul bosom more rancour contains, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Say then more than they, nay, lavishly flatter; | 11 | ······/˘˘/˘ |
| Tis your gross panegyrics alone can bespatter; | 13 | ·······˘/·˘/˘ |
| For thine, my dear Dick, give me leave to speak plain, | 11 | ··········· |
| Like very foul mops, dirty more than they clean. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
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.