THE GARDEN PLOT
Reading edition
1709
When Naboth's vineyard[1] 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.]