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O what a scene for joy and laughter,
To see, as light as cork or feather,
Our pond’rous lead, and bulky rafter,
Sail down the smooth canal together!
Whilst coal and lime and cheese and butter,
Shall grace our famous navigation;
And we will make a wond’rous clutter,
Fill then your jovial bumpers round,
Join chorus all in Stockton’s glory;
Let us but love our native town,
A fig for patriot, whig, or tory;
Whate’er they say, whate’er they do,
Their aim is but to fleece the nation;
Let us continue firm and true
Yet ere we part, my comrades say,
Come, Stockhore[74], you’re the poet,
If e’er you pen’d a grateful lay,
’Tis now the time to show it.
Such usage fair in this good town,
We’ve met from age and youth, sirs,
Accept our grateful thanks, and own
Come, landlady, fill us a bumper,
And take no thought for the shot,
It’s a sin, as I hope to be saved,
To part with an empty pot;
Let the glass go merrily round,
Our business is jolly to be,
And the wanton lasses of Sedgfield
Should he fall by commotion,
Or sink in the ocean,
(May sick tidings ne’er come to the _Key_, O)
I could ne’er mair be glad,
For the loss of my lad
Wad break my poor heart, and I’d _dee_, O!
Youth forlorn! tho’ crowds deride thee,
Gentle minds for thee must grieve;
Back to _reason_, wish to guide thee,
And thy ev’ry want relieve,
O from this sad state to snatch thee,
Why delay the _good_ and _kind_?
_Pity_ calls them on to watch thee,
The streets are now so num’rous grown,[81]
E’en Gothamites don’t know them;
So signs they’ve painted ’gainst the walls,
In every nook to shew them.[82]
And such the rage, for naming streets,
That gaps made in th’ Old Wall;
They Heron Street and Forster Street,
Whose easie Pegassus will amble ore
Some threescore miles of Fancy in an houre;
Cloud-grapling _Chapman_, whose Aerial minde
Soares at Philosophy, and strikes it blinde;
_Danbourn_ [_Dabourn_] I had forgot, and let it be,
He dy’d Amphibion by the Ministry;
_Silvester_, _Bartas_, whose translatique part
Oh heavens! and could so soon that tye
Relent in sad apostacy?
Could all thy Oaths and mortgag’d trust,
Banish like Letters form’d in dust, [? vanish]
Which the next wind scatters? take heed,
Take heed Revolter; know this deed
Hath wrong’d the world, which will fare worse
This too shewes him deeply wise,
To dwell there he left the skies;
So pure a black could _Phœbus_ burn,
He himself would _Negro_ turn,
And for such a dresse would slight
His gorgeous attire of light;
Eclipses he would count a blisse,
To the Platonick that applies
His clear addresses onely to the mind;
The body but a Temple signifies,
Wherein the Saints inshrin’d,
To him it is all one,
Whether the walls be marble, or rough stone;
Nay, in holy places, which old time defaces,
Call for the best, the house will ring,
Sack, White and Claret, let them bring,
And drink apace, whilst breath you have,
You’l find but cold drinking in the grave;
Partridge, Plover for your dinner,
And a Capon for the sinner,
You shall finde ready when you are up,
Well then Companions is’t not fit,
Since to this Jemme we ow[e] our wit,
That we should praise the Cabonet,
And drink a health to this divine,
And bounteous pallace of our wine[?]:
Die he with thirst that doth repine!
Tis Wine that makes the thoughts aspire,
And fills the body with heat;
Besides ’tis good, if well understood [p. 69.]
To fit a man for the feat;
_Then call, and drink up all,_
_The drawer is ready to fill:_
_Pox take care, what need we to spare,_
_My Father has made his will._
They are mad that are sad;
Be rul’d, by me,
And none shall be so merry as we;
The Kitchin shall catch cold no more,
And we’l have no key to the Buttery dore,
The fidlers shall sing,
And the house shall ring,
And the world shall see
What a merry couple,
Merry couple,
3. But chaste _Camilla’s_ vertuous fear
Was of a noble kind,
Not of her end approaching near
But to be left behind,
From her dear Love disjoyn’d;
When Death in courtesie decreed,
To make the fair his prize,
And by one cruelty her freed
Reason wherewith kind Heav’n has blest
His creature man above the rest,
Will teach humanity to know
All that it should aspire unto;
And whatsoever fool relies
On false deceiving prophesies,
Striving by conduct to evade
The harms they threaten, or perswade,
Too frequently himself does run [p. 119.]
Into the danger he would shun,
And pulls upon himself the woe
Then forth he came as one half lame,
All very faint and tired,
Betwixt her legs he hung his head,
As heavy heart desired;
My dogs then being refresht again,
And she of sleep bereaved,
She dreamt she had me in her arms,
The Grecian lad he drank like mad, [p. 13.]
Minding no work above it;
And _Sans question_ kill’d _Ephestion_
Because he’d not approve it;
He got command where God had land,
And like a _Maudlin_ Yonker,
When he tippled all and wept, he laid him down to sleep,
Who bids a Guest unto a feast,
To sit by divers dishes,
They please their mind untill they find
Change, please each Creatures wishes;
With beak and bill I have my fill,
With measure running over;
The Lovers dish now do I wish,