I never came the artful dodge, tho’ poor.
I ne’er gave way to lewdness, nor to lush,
Nor did an act for which I’ve cause to blush.
True, I ne’er figur’d as a man of letters,
But yet I know’d my duty to my betters.
And never deem’d, however mean my station,
Swearing and swaggering pleasant conversation;
Yet, I confess, I lov’d in boyhood prime,
To hear of boxing in the olden time;
Of feats perform’d by those heroic men—