A Sonnet Written in the Favorite Chair of Dean Swift
Here seated — erstwhere Swift, oft musing sat
And formed his Gulliver’s immortal tale,
Or entertained his friends in witty chat
Or bade sublimer topics to prevail.
Here seated — deep reflection takes her range,
And contemplates the altering hand of time,
With retrospective eye masks every change
Since Swift here wrote his prose or sportive rhyme.
Here seated — while enamoured memory dwells
On Genius — Talent — Learning most profound,
With mortified regret the bosom swells
And proud humanity receives a wound.
That Swift endowed with gifts the wisest crave
Should sink a senseless madman to the grave.
Anonymous
Swift’s mind was violently deranged for some time previous to his death.