Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ELEGY ON MUCH LAMENTED DEATH OF DEMAR, THE FAMOUS RICH MAN, by THOMAS SHERIDAN (1687-1738)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ELEGY ON MUCH LAMENTED DEATH OF DEMAR, THE FAMOUS RICH MAN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Know all men by these presents, death the tamer
Last Line: Will think his better half alive.
Subject(s): Demar, John (d. 1720)


Know all men by these presents, Death the tamer
By mortgage hath secured the corpse of Demar;
Nor can four hundred thousand sterling pound
Redeem him from his prison under ground.
His heirs might well, of all his wealth possessed,
Bestow to bury him one iron chest.
Pluto, the god of wealth, will joy to know
His faithful steward, in the shades below.
He walked the streets and wore a threadbare cloak;
He dined and supped at charge of other folk;
And by his looks, had he held out his palms,
He might be thought an object fit for alms.
So to the poor if he refused his pelf,
He used 'em full as kindly as himself.

Where'er he went, he never saw his betters;
Lords, knights and squires were all his humble debtors;
And under hand and seal the Irish nation
Were forced to own to him their obligation.

He that could once have half a kingdom bought,
In half a minute is not worth a groat;
His coffers from the coffin could not save,
Nor all his int'rest keep him from the grave.
A golden monument would not be right,
Because we wish the earth upon him light.

Oh London Tavern! Thou hast lost a friend,
Though in thy walls he ne'er did farthing spend:
He touched the pence when others touched the pot;
The hand that signed the mortgage paid the shot.

Old as he was, no vulgar known disease
on him could ever boast a pow'r to seize;
But as his gold he weighed, grim Death in spite
Cast in his dart which made three moidores light;
And as he saw his darling money fail,
Blew his last breath to sink the lighter scale.

He who so long was current, 'twould be strange
If he should now be cried down since his change.

The sexton shall green sods on thee bestow.
Alas, the sexton is thy banker now!
A dismal banker must that banker be,
Who gives no bills but of mortality.

EPITAPH

Beneath this verdant hillock lies
Demar the wealthy and the wise.
His heirs for winding-sheet bestowed
His money-bags together sewed;
And that he might securely rest,
Have put his carcase in a chest:
The very chest in which they say
His other self, his money, lay.
And if his heirs continue kind
To that dear self he left behind,
I dare believe that four in five
Will think his better half alive.





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