The Wish.  
Corrected and augmented with a Second Part.  
Licenced December 11th. 1691.  


I.  
IF I live to be old, for I find I go down,  
Let this be my Fate in a Country Town;  
May I have a Warm house, with a Stone at the Gate  
And a Cleanly young Girl to rub my Baldpate.   

CHORUS.  
May I govern my Passions with an Absosute Sway,  
And grow wiser, and better, as my Strength wears away,  
Without Gout or Stone, by a gentle Decay.   

II.  
In a Country Town, by a Murmuring brook  
With the Ocean at distance, whereon I may look,  
With a spacious Plain, without Hedge, or Style,  
And an easy Pad-Nagg to ride out a Mile.  
May I, etc.   

III.  
With Horace, and Petrarch, and two or three more  
Of the best Wits, that Reigned in the Ages before,  
With Roast Mutton, rather than Venison, or Teal,  
And Clean, tho' Coarse Linen, at every Meal.  
May I, etc.   

iv  
With a Pudding on Sundays, and Stout humming Liquor,  
And Remnants of Latin to Welcome the Vicar,  
With Monte Fiascone, and Burgundy Wine  
To drink the Kings-health in, as oft as I Dine;  
May I, etc.   

V  
If to Sixty and odd, I should draw out my life,  
May I not play the Fool then, and steal a Young Wife.  
Lest when I can't please, I grow Jealous, and hate her,  
Nor thrice a Week▪ Spit out a Crude Observator. 
* Estimet. Responsum non dictum esse quia laesit Prior. Ter. in Prologue. Eun. Vide Observat Vol. 3. N. 126.   
May I, etc.   

VI  
May I be neither Observator, or Trimmer,  
Nor against the laws stream an obstinate Swimmer;  
May I mind what I speak, what I writ, and hear read,  
But with matters of State, ne'er trouble my old head.  
May I, etc.   

VII.  
Nor Preside in a Coffee Convention of Wits  
Made up of Conceited, Pragmatical Cits.  
Who greedily lick my Oraculous Spaul,  
While I row to St. Peter's with my face towards St. Paul.  
May I, etc.    

The Second Part.  

VIII.  
Tho' I care not for Riches, may I not be so poor,  
That the Rich without shame, cannot enter my Door:  
May they Court my converse, may they take much Delight  
My old Stories to hear, in a Winter's long Night.  
May I, etc.   

IX.  
My small Stock of Wit may I not misapply  
To Flatter Ill men, be they never so High,  
Nor misspend the few Moment's I Steal from the Grave  
In Fawning, and Cringing, like a Dog, or a Slave.  
May I, etc.   

X.  
May none whom I love, to so great Riches rise  
As to slight their Acquaintance, and their old Friends despise,  
So Low, or so High may none of them be,  
As to move either Pity, or Envy in me.  
May I, etc.   

XI.  
A Friendship I wish for, but alas 'tis in Vain,  
Jove's Storehouse is Empty, and can't it supply  
So firm, that no Change of Times, Envy, or Gain,  
Or Flattery, or Woman, should have power to Untie.  
May I, etc.   

XII.  
But if Friends prove Unfaithful, and Fortune a Whore,  
Still may I be Virtuous, tho' I am Poor;  
My life then as useless, may I freely Resign,  
When no longer I Relish true Wit, and good Wine.  
May I, etc.   

XIII.  
For those who profess Soul or Body to mend,  
Tho' I hope I shall have no Occasion to send,  
When I have eat All my Bread, and drunk my Last Glass,  
May they come then, and set their Seals to my Pass.  
May I, etc.   

XIV.  
With a Courage Undaunted, may I Face my last day,  
And when I am Dead, may the Better sort say,  
In the Morning when Sober, in the Evening when Mellow,  
He's Gone, and Left not behind him his Fellow.   

CHORUS.  
For he governed his Passions with an Absolute Sway,  
And grew wiser, and better, as his Strength wore away,  
Without Gout, or Stone by a gentle Decay.    
FINIS.