William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Upon Tom of Christ Church, OxfordJohn Cleveland (16131658) (?)
T
And by destruction art a founder,
Whose art doth tell us what men are,
Who by corruption shall rise sounder,
In this fierce fire’s intensive heat
Remember this is Tom the Great.
Which with thy sledge his side shall wound,
That then some statute thou hast broke
Which long depended on his sound,
And that our college gates did cry
They were not shut since Tom did die.
To drink and swear by Carfax bell
Which, bellowing without tune or pity,
The days and nights divides not well.
But the poor tradesman must give o’er
His ale at eight or sit till four.
As if we never should drink more,
So that the reckoning after nine
Is larger now than that before.
Release this tongue which erst could say
‘Home, scholars; Drawer, what’s to pay?’
Making a ruler for the people,
One that shall ring thy praises wonder
Than the other six bells in the steeple.
Wherefore think, when Tom is running
Our manners wait upon thy cunning.
The same in number, weight, and sound.
So may thy conscience rule thy gain,
Or, would thy theft might be thy bane!