Page:Poetical Works of John Oldham.djvu/195

Rh I've read this story, but I know not where, Whether in Hakewill, or Beard's Theatre; 'A certain Spartan, whom a friend, like you, Had trusted with a hundred pound or two, Went to the Oracle, to know if he With safety might the sum in trust deny. 'Twas answered, ’No, that if he durst forswear, He should ere long for's knavery pay dear;' Hence fear, not honesty, made him refund; Yet to his cost the sentence true he found: Himself, his children, all his family, Even the remotest of his whole pedigree, Perished,' as there 'tis told, ’in misery.' Now to apply: if such be the sad end Of perjury, though but in thought designed, Thank, sir, what fate awaits your treacherous friend, Who has not only thought, but done to you All this, and more; think, what he suffers now, And think, what every villain suffers else, That dares, like him, be faithless, base, and false.