But you resolv'd to have your jest,135
And 'twas a folly to contest;
Then, since you now have done your worst,
Pray leave me where you found me first."
IMITATION OF PART OF THE SIXTH SATIRE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE. 1714.
[1]
I'VE often wish'd that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a year,
A handsome house to lodge a friend,
A river at my garden's end,
A terrace walk, and half a rood 5
Of land, set out to plant a wood.
Well, now I have all this and more,
I ask not to increase my store;
["[2] But here a grievance seems to lie,
All this is mine but till I die; 10
I can't but think 'twould sound more clever,
To me and to my heirs for ever.
"If I ne'er got or lost a groat,
By any trick, or any fault;
And if I pray by reason's rules,15
And not like forty other fools:
