The Garden Plot

1709

When Naboth's vineyard look'd so fine,
The king cried out, "Would this were mine!"
And yet no reason could prevail
To bring the owner to a sale.
Jezebel saw, with haughty pride,
How Ahab grieved to be denied;
And thus accosted him with scorn:
"Shall Naboth make a monarch mourn?
A king, and weep! The ground's your own;
I'll vest the garden in the crown."
With that she hatch'd a plot, and made
Poor Naboth answer with his head;
And when his harmless blood was spilt,
The ground became his forfeit guilt.

[Footnote 1: This seems to allude to some oppressive procedure by the
Earl of Wharton in relation to Swift's garden, which he called "Naboth's
Vineyard," meaning a possession coveted by another person able to possess
himself of it (i Kings, chap, xxi, verses 1-10). For some particulars of
the garden, see "Prose Works," xi, 415.—W. E. B.]