Much Meat, Much Malady

“Here is a store of costly wine and meats, / Of which this rich man daily drinks and eats; / But in return for his luxurious ways, / He’s often sick, and lives but half his days: / He’s got the gout; swollen his feet appear, / His wines and savory meat have cost him dear. / To pleasure’s hour succeed long days of pain, / Bringing reproach, repentance, in their train; / The richest viands on the palate pall, / And sick at soul, he loathing turns from all, / And envies now the poor man’s humble lot, / Who, coarsely clad, and in his lowly cot, / His simple meal, a scanty crust, can eat, / And be content, for labor makes it sweet."—Barber, 1857

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