Gild his dim eyes, and paint with ruddy hue
His wrinkled visage, ghastly wan before—
Cordial restorative to mortal man,
With copious hand by bounteous gods bestow'd.
These are the opening lines. The concluding passage describing the tippling revellers leaving the tavern suggests, as has more than once been pointed out, the hand that afterwards wrote "Trivia."
Thus we the winged hours in harmless mirth
And joys unsullied pass, till humid night
Has half her race perform'd; now all abroad
Is hush'd and silent, now the rumbling noise
Of coach or cart, or smoky link-boy's call