He that’s hanged before noon, ought to think of to-night.”
But Prior will supply us with more than one study of the subject. Here is a variation, for instance, in matter, manner, and metre:—
“The hoary fool, who many days
Has struggled with continued sorrow,
Renews his hope, and blindly lays
The desperate bet upon to-morrow.
“To-morrow comes; ’tis noon, ’tis night;
This day like all the former flies:
Yet on he runs, to seek delight
To-morrow, till to-night he dies.”