Skip to content
Linespedia

The Yahoo's Overthrow, Or, The Kevan Bayl's New Ballad, Upon Sergeant Kite's Insulting The Dean [1]

By Jonathan Swift

Topics: classic

To the Tune of "Derry Down."         Jolly boys of St. Kevan's,[2] St. Patrick's, Donore     And Smithfield, I'll tell you, if not told before,     How Bettesworth, that booby, and scoundrel in grain,     Has insulted us all by insulting the Dean.             Knock him down, down, down, knock him down.         The Dean and his merits we every one know,     But this skip of a lawyer, where the de'il did he grow?     How greater his merit at Four Courts or House,     Than the barking of Towzer, or leap of a louse!             Knock him down, etc.         That he came from the Temple, his morals do show;     But where his deep law is, few mortals yet know:     His rhetoric, bombast, silly jests, are by far     More like to lampooning, than pleading at bar.             Knock him down, etc.         This pedler, at speaking and making of laws,     Has met with returns of all sorts but applause;     Has, with noise and odd gestures, been prating some years,     What honester folk never durst for their ears.             Knock him down, etc.         Of all sizes and sorts, the fanatical crew     Are his brother Protestants, good men and true;     Red hat, and blue bonnet, and turban's the same,     What the de'il is't to him whence the devil they came.             Knock him down, etc.         Hobbes, Tindal, and Woolston, and Collins, and Nayler,     And Muggleton, Toland, and Bradley the tailor,     Are Christians alike; and it may be averr'd,     He's a Christian as good as the rest of the herd.             Knock him down, etc.         He only the rights of the clergy debates;     Their rights! their importance! We'll set on new rates     On their tithes at half-nothing, their priesthood at less;     What's next to be voted with ease you may guess.             Knock him down, etc.         At length his old master, (I need not him name,)     To this damnable speaker had long owed a shame;     When his speech came abroad, he paid him off clean,     By leaving him under the pen of the Dean.             Knock him down, etc.         He kindled, as if the whole satire had been     The oppression of virtue, not wages of sin:     He began, as he bragg'd, with a rant and a roar;     He bragg'd how he bounced, and he swore how he swore.[3]             Knock him down, etc.         Though he cringed to his deanship in very low strains,     To others he boasted of knocking out brains,     And slitting of noses, and cropping of ears,     While his own ass's zags were more fit for the shears.             Knock him down, etc.         On this worrier of deans whene'er we can hit,     We'll show him the way how to crop and to slit;     We'll teach him some better address to afford     To the dean of all deans, though he wears not a sword.             Knock him down, etc.         We'll colt him through Kevan, St. Patrick's, Donore,     And Smithfield, as rap was ne'er colted before;     We'll oil him with kennel, and powder him with grains,     A modus right fit for insulters of deans.             Knock him down, etc.         And, when this is over, we'll make him amends,     To the Dean he shall go; they shall kiss and be friends:     But how? Why, the Dean shall to him disclose     A face for to kiss, without eyes, ears, or nose.             Knock him down, etc.         If you say this is hard on a man that is reckon'd     That sergeant-at-law whom we call Kite the Second,     You mistake; for a slave, who will coax his superiors,     May be proud to be licking a great man's posteriors.             Knock him down, etc.         What care we how high runs his passion or pride?     Though his soul he despises, he values his hide;     Then fear not his tongue, or his sword, or his knife;     He'll take his revenge on his innocent wife.             Knock him down, down, down, keep him down.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"To the Tune of "Derry Down."..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Jonathan Swift delivers a powerful performance in "The Yahoo's Overthrow, Or, The Kevan Bayl's New Ballad, Upon Sergeant Kite's Insulting The Dean [1]"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Jonathan Swift

"To the Tune of "Derry Down."..." by Jonathan Swift

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"The glass, by lovers' nonsense blurr'd,         Dims and obscures our sight;     So, when our passions Love has stirr'd,         It darkens Rea"

"BEING AN EXCELLENT NEW SONG UPON THE SURRENDER OF DUNKIRK TO GENERAL HILL     1712     To the tune of "The King shall enjoy his own again.""

"WRITTEN IN APRIL 1709, AND FIRST PRINTED IN "THE TATLER"[1]     Now hardly here and there an hackney-coach     Appearing, show'd the ruddy mor"

"Fluttering spread thy purple pinions,         Gentle Cupid, o'er my heart:     I a slave in thy dominions;         Nature must give way to art."

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Jonathan Swift

About Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) was an Irish satirist, essayist, and poet. Best known for "Gulliver's Travels," his poetry includes "A Description of a City Shower" and "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift." His sharp wit and moral indignation made him one of the greatest satirists in English.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"The glass, by lovers' nonsense blurr'd,         Di..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.