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AN EPISTLE TO ROBERT NUGENT, Esq.[1]
WITH A PICTURE OF DR. SWIFT.
BY DR. DUNKIN[2].
TO gratify thy long desire
(So Love and Piety require),
From Bindon's[3] colours you may trace
The patriot's venerable face,
The last, O Nugent! which his art
Shall ever to the world impart;
For know, the prime of mortal men,
That matchless monarch of the pen
(Whose labours, like the genial sun,
Shall through revolving ages run,
Yet never, like the sun, decline,
But in their full meridian shine),
That ever-honour'd, envied sage,
So long the wonder of his age,
Who charm'd us with his golden strain,
Is not the shadow of the dean:
He only breathes Bœotian air —
"O! what a falling off was there!"
Hibernia's Helicon is dry,
Invention, Wit, and Humour die;
- ↑ Created baron Nugent and viscount Clare, Dec. 20, 1766.
- ↑ This elegant tribute of gratitude, as it was written at that dismal period of the dean's life, when all suspicion of flattery must vanish, reflects the highest honour on the ingenious writer, and cannot but be agreeable to the admirers of Dr. Swift.
- ↑ Samuel Bindon, esq., one of the greatest painters and architects of his time. On account of his age, and some little failure in his sight, he threw aside his pencil soon after the year 1750; and afterward lived to a good old age, greatly beloved and respected by all who had the happiness either of his friendship or acquaintance. He died June 2, 1765.
