The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 3 (of 3) / Everlasting Calerdar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac

by William Hone

A SENSUALIST AND HIS CONSCIENCE.

The following lines, written in the year 1609, are said, in the “Notes of a Bookworm,” to have induced Butler to pursue their manner in his “Hudibras.”

Dialogue.

Glutton. My belly I do deify.
Echo. Fie!
Gl. Who curbs his appetite’s a fool.
Echo. Ah! fool!
Gl. I do not like this abstinence.
Echo. Hence!
Gl. My joy’s a feast, my wish is wine.
Echo. Swine.
Gl. We epicures are happy truly.
Echo. You lie.
Gl. May I not, Echo, eat my fill?
Echo. Ill.
Gl. Will it hurt me if I drink too much?
Echo. Much.
Gl. Thou mock’st me, nymph, I’ll not believe it.
Echo. Believe it.
Gl. Do’st thou condemn, then, what I do?
Echo. I do.
Gl. Is it that which brings infirmities?
Echo. It is.
Gl. Then, sweetest Temperance, I’ll love thee.
Echo. I love thee.
Gl. If all be true which thou dost tell.
To gluttony I bid farewell.
Echo. Farewell!

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