English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 307. A Satire |
| | | Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) |
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| LONG-EXPECTED one-and-twenty, | |
| Ling’ring year, at length is flown; | |
| Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty, | |
| Great (Sir John), are now your own. | |
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| Loosen’d from the minor’s tether, | 5 |
| Free to mortgage or to sell, | |
| Wild as wind, and light as feather, | |
| Bid the sons of thrift farewell. | |
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| Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies, | |
| All the names that banish care; | 10 |
| Lavish of your grandsire’s guineas, | |
| Show the spirits of an heir. | |
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| All that prey on vice and folly, | |
| Joy to see their quarry fly; | |
| There the gamester, light and jolly, | 15 |
| There the lender, grave and sly. | |
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| Wealth, my lad, was made to wander, | |
| Let it wander as it will; | |
| Call the jockey, call the pander, | |
| Bid them come and take their fill. | 20 |
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| When the bonny blade carouses, | |
| Pockets full, and spirits high— | |
| What are acres? What are houses? | |
| Only dirt, or wet or dry. | |
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| Should the guardian, friend, or mother, | 25 |
| Tell the woes of wilful waste, | |
| Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother,— | |
| You can hang or drown at last! | |
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