When thus the Earl began, "Great duke,
I'll know how this did chance,
Without inviting me! sure this
You did not learn in France.
"One of us two for this offence
Under the board shall lie;
I know thee well, a duke thou art,
So, some years hence shall I.
"But trust me, Wharton, pity 'twere
So much good wine to spill,
As these companions here may drink,
Ere they have had their fill.
"Let thou and I, in bumpers full,
This grand affair decide"—
"Accursed be he," duke Wharton said,
"By whom it is denied."
To Andrews, and to Hotham fair,
Many a pint went round,
And many a gallant gentleman
Lay sick upon the ground.
When, at the last, the duke espied
He had the earl secure,
He plied him with a full pint glass,
Which laid him on the floor.
Who never spoke more words than these
After he downward sunk,
"My worthy friends, revenge my fall,
Duke Wharton sees me drunk."
Then, with a groan, duke Philip took
The sick man by the joint,
And said, "Earl Harold, 'stead of thee,
Would I had drank the pint!
"Alack! my very heart doth bleed,
And doth within me sink
For surely a more sober earl
Did never swallow drink."
With that the Sheriff, in a rage,
To see the earl so smit,
Vowed to revenge the dead-drunk peer
Upon renown'd Sir Kit.