Page:Old man's wish.pdf/3

 And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away.

Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.

Near a fine shady grove and a murmuring brook,

With the ocean at at [sic] a distancdistance [sic], whereon I may look;

With a fair spacious plain, without hedgs or a stile,

And an easy pad-nag when I ride out a mile.

May I govern,&c.

With Horace and Petrarch, and two or three more,

Of the best wits that reign’d in the ages before.

With roast mutton, rather than ven'son or veal.

And clean, though coarse, linen at every meal.

May I govern, &c.

With a pudding on Sunday’s, some stout humming liquor,

And remnants of latin to welcome the vicar;

With Monte Fra cone,' or Burgundy wine,

To drink the king’s health as oft as I dine

May I govern, &c.

With a courage undauated may I face my last day.

And when I am dead may the better sort say,

In the morning, when sobor, in the evening when mellow.

He is gone and has not left behind him his fellow.