When old corruption first begun

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

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

He call'd him Surgery & fed
The babe with his own milk;
For flesh & he could ne'er agree:
She would not let him suck.

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.

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!

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

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

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

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