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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DRAPIER'S HILL by JONATHAN SWIFT

First Line: WE GIVE THE WORLD TO UNDERSTAND
Last Line: AND DRAPIER'S VIE WITH COOPER'S HILL.
Subject(s): DRAPIER'S HILL, IRELAND;

We give the world to understand,
Our thriving Dean has purchased land;
A purchase which will bring him clear,
Above his rent four pounds a year;
Provided, to improve the ground,
He will but add two hundred pound,
And from his endless hoarded store,
To build a house five hundred more.
Sir Arthur too shall have his will,
And call the mansion Drapier's Hill;
That when the nation long enslaved,
Forgets by whom it once was saved;
When none the Drapier's praise shall sing;
His signs aloft no longer swing;
His medals and his prints forgotten,
And all his handkerchiefs are rotten;
His famous Letters made waste paper;
This hill may keep the name of Drapier:
In spite of envy flourish still,
And Drapier's vie with Cooper's Hill.



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