Classic Poem

1
When old corruption first begun,
Adorn'd in yellow vest,
He committed on flesh a whoredom--
O, what a wicked beast!
2

From them a callow babe did spring,
And old corruption smil'd
To think his race should never end,
For now he had a child.
3

He call'd him surgery, & fed
The babe with his own milk,
For flesh & he could n'er agree,
She would not let him suck.
4

And this he always kept in mind,
And form'd a crooked knife,
And ran about with bloody hands
To seek his mother's life.
5

And as he ran to seek his mother
He met with a dead woman,
He fell in love & married her,
A deed which is not common.
6

She soon grew pregnant & brought forth
Scurvy & spott'd fever.
The father grin'd & skipt about,
And said, "I'm made for ever!'
7

"For now I have procur'd these imps
I'll try experiments.'
With that he tied poor scurvy down
& stopt up all its vents.
8

And when the child began to swell,
He shouted out aloud,
"I've found the dropsy out, & soon,
Shall do the world more good.'
9

He took up fever by the neck
And cut out all its spots,
And thro' the holes which he had made
He first disover'd guts.