III. List, then, old Is, Was, and To-be; I'll state accounts 'twixt thee and me. Thou gav'st me, first, the measles; With teething would'st have ta'en me off; Then mad'st me, with the hooping-cough, Thinner than fifty weasels; IV. Thou gav'st small-pox, (the dragon now That Jenner combats on a cow,) And then some seeds of knowledge,-- Grains of Grammar, which the flails Of pedants thresh upon our tails, To fit us for a college. V. And, when at Christ-Church, 'twas thy sport To rack my brains with sloe-juice port, And lectures out of number! There Freshman Folly quaffs and sings, While Graduate Dullness clogs thy wings With mathematic lumber. VI. Thy pinions next,--which, while they wave, Fan all our birth-days to the grave,-- I think, ere it was prudent, Balloon'd me from the schools to town, Where I was parachuted down, A dapper Temple student. VII. Then, much in dramas did I look,-- Much slighted thee and great Lord Coke: Congreve beat Blackstone hollow; Shakspeare made all the statues stale, And in my crown no pleas had Hale To supersede Apollo. VIII. Ah! Time, those raging heats, I find, Were the mere dog-star of my mind; How cool is retrospection! Youth's gaudy summer solstice o'er, Experience yields a mellow store,-- An autumn of reflection! IX. Why did I let the God of song Lure me from law to join his throng, Gull'd by some slight applauses? What's verse to A. when versus B.? Or what John Bull, a comedy, To pleading John Bull's causes! X. Yet, though my childhood felt disease,-- Though my lank purse, unswoll'n by fees, Some ragged Muse has netted,-- Still, honest Chronos! 'tis most true, To thee (and, 'faith! to others too,) I'm very much indebted. XI. For thou hast made me gaily tough, Inured me to each day that's rough, In hopes of calm to-morrow. And when, old mower of us all, Beneath thy sweeping scythe I fall, Some few dear friends will sorrow. XII. Then, though my idle prose or rhyme Should, half an hour, outlive me, Time, Pray bid the stone-engravers, Where'er my bones find church-yard room, Simply to chisel on my tomb,-- "Thank Time for all his favours!"