With a good old fashion, when Christmas was come,
To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum,
With good cheer enough to furnish every old room,
And old liquor able to make a cat speak, and man dumb;
Like an old courtier, &c.

With an old falconer, huntsmen, and a kennel of hounds,
That never hawk'd, nor hunted, but in his own grounds;
Who, like a wise man, kept himself within his own bounds,
And when he died, gave every child a thousand good pounds;
Like an old courtier, &c.

But to his eldest son his house and lands he assign'd,
Charging him in his will to keep the old bountiful mind,

To be good to his old tenants, and to his neighbours be kind :
But in the ensuing ditty you shall hear how he was inclined;
Like a young courtier of the king's,

And the king's young courtier.

Like a flourishing young gallant, newly come to his land,
Who keeps a brace of painted madams at his command,
And takes up a thousand pounds upon his father's land,
And gets drunk in a tavern till he can neither go nor stand:
Like a young courtier, &c.

With a newfangled lady, that is dainty, nice, and spare,
Who never knew what belong'd to good housekeeping or care,
Who buys gaudy-colour'd fans to play with wanton air,
And seven or eight different dressings of other women's hair:

Like a young courtier, &c.

THE OLD AND YOUNG COURTIER.

185

With a new-fashion'd hall, built where the old one stood, Hung round with new pictures that do the poor no good, With a fine marble chimney, wherein burns neither coal nor wood, smooth shovel board, whereon no victuals e'er stood: Like a young courtier, &c.

And a new

With a new study, stuff'd full of pamphlets and plays,
And a new chaplain, that swears faster than he prays,

With a
new buttery hatch, that opens once in four or five days,
And a new French cook, to devise fine kickshaws and toys:

With a

Like a young courtier, &c.

new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on,

On a new

journey to London straight we all must begone, And leave none to keep house, but our new porter John, Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone;

With a

With a

With a

Like a young courtier, &c.

new gentleman usher, whose carriage is complete,

new coachman, footmen, and pages to carry up the meat,

waiting gentlewoman, whose dressing is very neat, Who, when her lady has dined, lets the servants not eat;

Like a young courtier, &c.

With new titles of honour, bought with his father's old gold,
For which sundry of his ancestors' old manors are sold;
And this is the course most of our new gallants hold,
Which makes that good housekeeping is now grown so cold

Among the young courtiers of the king,

Or the king's young courtiers.

BB

And in the dust be equal made

With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill;
But their strong nerves at last must yield,
They tame but one another still;
Early or late,

They stoop to fate,

And must give up their murmuring breath, When they, pale captives, creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow,

Then boast no more your mighty deeds;

Upon Death's purple altar, now,

See where the victor victim bleeds:

All heads must come

To the cold tomb:

Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.

FROM Oberon, in fairy land,

The king of ghosts and shadows there,

Mad Robin I, at his command,

Am sent to view the night-sports here.

What revel rout

Is kept about,

I will o'ersee,

And merry be,

And make good sport, with ho, ho, ho!

A A