University of Virginia Library

A maggot had possess'd his head,
(For rotten stuff will maggots breed),
Tho' some affirm it bred not there,
But only crept in at his ear,
And finding empty room to lodge in,
Fix'd there, and after rais'd great dudgeon:
But how it bred, or in what noddle,
Or when, it matters not a boddle,
Since it is sure his head it seiz'd,
And him with strange chimeras pleas'd,

First he resolved the Mare to feed
(which now was starv'd, and almost dead)
With dilse and tangles, which in store grow
In South-sea, tho' no man the shore knew,
And were fetch'd home, some ten times as far,
As Cape Good Hope, or Madagascar.
From regions of Utopia,
And ter' australis incognita,
In ships that floated thro' the air,
Whether the wind was cross or fair,
Without the help of masts or sails,
Or oars, or helm fixt to their tails,
To which the rudder of the rump is
In place of log-line, helm and compass;
Yet steer'd their course as right and quick,
As if the pilot were Old Nick.
The Line they'd cut, the Cape they'd double,
Floating upon an airy bubble,
And one day's space would bring a gally
From Ne'er-found-land, to Exchange-alley,
Where she expos'd this South-sea gear,
(Fine fodder for a starving Mare!)
Yet the poor hungry meagre jade,
Ate up this trash, as she'd been mad,
Which made her swell, and look as round
As if she'd been both full and sound.
But chancing to let fly behind,
A blast of something more than wind,
The rider she did all bespatter
With dung and stinking South-sea water.
At this he stood bumbaz'd and troubled,
And scrub'd and rub'd to clean his doublet.