Give me the haunch of a buck to eat,
And to drink Madeira old;
And a gentle wife to rest with,
And in my arms to fold.
An Arabic book to study,
A gipsy pony to ride;
And a house to live in shaded by trees,
Near to a river’s side.
With such good things around me,
And with good health withal,
Though I should live for a hundred years
For death I would not call.
SAINT JACOB
Saint Jacob he takes our blest Lord by the hand:
“I gladly would Christianize Garsia land.”
“O how wilt thou bring it within Christian pale?
No ship hast thou here o’er the salt sea to sail.”
“Thy power, O Lord, is so wondrously great,
Full quickly a ship Thou for me canst create.”
“Saint Jacob, hie down to the salt ocean strand,
There standeth so little a stone by the land.”
Saint Jacob he taketh a book in his hand,
And down he proceeds to the salt ocean strand.
Saint Jacob he made o’er the stone the cross-mark,
From the land straight it floated, as though ’twere a bark.