SONG.
"Moderation and Alteration."
In an old quiet parish, on a brown healthy old moor,
Stands my master's old gate, whose old threshold is wore
With many an old friend, who for liquor would roar,
And I uncork'd the old sherry—that I had tasted before.
But it was in Moderation, &c.
There I had an old quiet pantry, of the servants was the head;
And kept the key of the old cellar, and old plate, and chipp'd the brown bread.
If an old barrel was missing, it was easily said,
That the very old beer was one morning found dead:—
But it was in Moderation, &c.
But, we had a good old custom, when the week did begin,
To show, by my accounts, I had not wasted a pin;—
For my lord, tho' he was bountiful, thought waste was a sin;
And never would lay out much, but when my lady lay-in.
But still it was Moderation.
Good lack! good lack! how once Dame Fortune did frown!
I left my old quiet pantry, to trudge from town to town;
Worn quite off my legs, in search of thumps, bobs, and cracks on the crown,
I was fairly knock'd up, and very near foully knock'd down.
But now there's an Alteration,
Oh! it's a wonderful Alteration!
[Exit.