[Page 71]

On sending my Son, as a Present, to Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, on his Birth-Day.

1 A Curious Statue, we are told,
2 Is priz'd above its Weight in Gold;
3 If the fair Form the Hand confess
4 Of
* Two famous Statuaries.
Phidias, or Praxiteles:
5 But if the Artist could inspire
6 The smallest Spark of heav'nly Fire,
7 Tho' but enough to make it walk,
8 Salute the Company, or talk;
9 This would advance the Price so high,
10 What Prince were rich enough to buy?
11 Such if Hibernia could obtain,
12 She sure would give it to the Dean:
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13 So to her Patriot should she pay
14 Her Thanks upon his natal Day.
15 A richer Present I design,
16 A finish'd Form, of Work divine,
17 Surpassing all the Power of Art,
18 A thinking Head, and grateful Heart,
19 An Heart, that hopes, one Day, to show
20 How much we to the Drapier owe.
21 Kings could not send a nobler Gift;
22 A meaner were unworthy Swift.
Dublin, Nov. 30, 1726.

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Title (in Source Edition): On sending my Son, as a Present, to Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, on his Birth-Day.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: poetry; literature; writing; friendship; parents; children
Genres: occasional poem
References: DMI 11376

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Source edition

Barber, Mary, ca. 1690-1757. Poems on Several Occasions [poems only]. London: Printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1734, pp. 71-72. xlviii,283,[7]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T42622; DMI 519; Foxon p. 45) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 3644].)

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Other works by Mary Barber