Lines Written On A Window In The Episcopal Palace At Kilmore

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Title:     Lines Written On A Window In The Episcopal Palace At Kilmore
Author: Jonathan Swift [More Titles by Swift]

Lines Written On a Window[1] in the Episcopal Palace At Kilmore

Resolve me this, ye happy dead,
Who've lain some hundred years in bed,
From every persecution free
That in this wretched life we see;
Would ye resume a second birth,
And choose once more to live on earth?

[Footnote 1: Soon after Swift's acquaintance with Dr. Sheridan, they passed some days together at the episcopal palace in the diocess of Kilmore. When Swift was gone, it was discovered that he had written the following lines on one of the windows which look into the church-yard. In the year 1780, the late Archdeacon Caulfield wrote some lines in answer to both. The pane was taken down by Dr. Jones, Bishop of Kilmore, but it has been since restored.--_Scott._]

Dr. Sheridan Wrote Underneath the following lines

Thus spoke great Bedel[1] from his tomb: "Mortal, I would not change my doom, To live in such a restless state, To be unfortunately great; To flatter fools, and spurn at knaves, To shine amidst a race of slaves; To learn from wise men to complain And only rise to fall again: No! let my dusty relics rest, Until I rise among the blest."

[Footnote 1: Bishop Bedel's tomb lies within view of the window.]

[The end]
Jonathan Swift's poem: Lines Written On A Window In The Episcopal Palace At Kilmore

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