Page:Cherry and the sloe.pdf/18

18 XLII. Sir, by that sentence you have said, I pledge, or all the game be play’d That some shall spring a leak; Since ye but put me now to prove, Such heads as help for my behove, Your warrant is but weak: Ask at the man yourself and see, Suppose ye strive for state. If he regarded not how he Had learn’d my lessons late; And granted he wanted Both Reason Wit and Skill, Complaining and maining, Our absence did him ill. XLIII. Confront him further face to face. If yet he rues his rackless race, Perhaps and you shall hear: For ay since Adam and since Eve, Who first thy leisings did believe I sold thy doctrine dear! What has been done, even to this day, I keep in mind almaist, Ye promise further than ye pay. Sir, Hope for all your haste; Promitting, outwitting, Your heights you never hooked, I show you, I know you, Your by-gones I have booked. XLIV. Then Hope reply’d, and that with pith, And wisely weigh’d his words therewith Sententiously and short: Quoth he, I am the anchor grip, That saves the sailor and the ship, From peril to the port. Quoth he, oftimes the anchor drives, As we have found before,