Epigram 38. To my Noble Cousin Colonel Ralph Sneyde

When the last spring I came to Keel, and found
Old Hospitality on English Ground,
I wonder'd: and (Great Sydney) did prefer
My Sneyde superiour to thy Kalander.
All things are neat, and Jovial Plenty keepes
Continual Festivals by years, not weekes:
He good decai'd House-keeping doth revive,
And doth preserve our English Fame alive.
So liv'd our worthy Ancestours, and so
May you till you the oldest Man may grow
Within the Land; and ripe for heaven go hence,
Bemon'd as far as known. Poets th'expence
Of time and paper both may save that day,
The Poor your lasting'st epitaph will say.