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I sent for Ratcliffe, was so ill,
That other doctors gave me over,
He felt my pulse, prescribed his pill,
And I was likely to recover.
But when the wit began to wheeze,
And wine had warm'd the politician,
Cured yesterday of my disease,
I died last night of my physician.
This poem is in the public domain.
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British poet Matthew Prior (1664 - 1721) apprenticed as a tavern-keeper but received a scholarship to attend Cambridge and thus became a scholar and a diplomat rather than a bartender. He served as a gentleman, a secretary, a secret agent, and an ambassador, and was impeached and imprisoned by the opposition for two years, during which time he produced some quite cheerful verse. Though Prior's love poems are a bit stiff, he had a true gift for wit and satire and his talent earned him a final resting place in Westminster Abbey.
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