Page:General Abercrombie's Elegy.pdf/3



When first I came to be a man

Of twenty years or so,

I thought myself a handsome youth,

And fain the world would know.

In best attire I stept abroad,

With spirits brief and gay.

And here and there and every where,

Was like a morn in May.

I had no care nor fear of want,

But rambled up and down,

And for a beau I might have pass’d,

In country or in town

I still was pleased where’er I went.

And when I was alone,

I tun’d my pipe, and pleased myself,

With John of Badenyon. Now in the days of youthful prime,

A mistress I must find

For love they say gives one an air,

And even improves the mind.

On Phyllis fair above the rest,

Kind fortune fix'd my eyes,

Her piercing beauty struck my heart,

And I became her prize.

To Cupid now with hearty pray’r,

I offer’d many a vow.