[Tea-Table Miscellany Contents]
THE sages of old,
In prophecy told,
The cause of a nation’s undoing;
But our new English breed
No prophecies need,
For each one here seeks his own ruin.
–
With grumbling and jars,
We promote civil wars,
And preach up false tenets to many;
We snarl and we bite,
We rail and we fight
For religion, yet no man has any.
–
Then him let’s commend,
That’s true to his friend,
And the church and the senate would settle;
Who delights not in blood,
But draws when he shou’d,
And bravely stands brunt to the battle.
–
Who rails not at kings,
Nor politick things,
Nor treason will speak when he’s mellow;
But takes a full glass,
To his country’s success,
This, this is an honest brave fellow.