'When he first nestled here, he was handsome and thin,

No razor had then mown his stubbleless chin:

He was sportive and careless, bland, upright and young,

And I smiled on his feats when he said, or he sung:

Then youth bore its own pardon, while stumbling o'er ill,

As the passions o'erthrew what was meant by the will.

* * * * *

I have seen him inwove with a pestilent crew,

Who, nine tenths came undone, and the rest to undo!

When those caitiffs came thund'ring in impudent state,