X. To be or not to be

TO be or not to be

Of great capacity,

Like Sir Isaac Newton,

Or Locke, or Doctor South,

Or Sherlock upon Death—

I’d rather be Sutton!

For he did build a house

For agèd men and youth,

With walls of brick and stone;

He furnish’d it within

With whatever he could win,

And all his own.

He drew out of the Stocks

His money in a box,

And sent his servant

To Green the Bricklayer,

And to the Carpenter;

He was so fervent.

The chimneys were threescore,

The windows many more;

And, for convenience,

He sinks and gutters made,

And all the way he pav’d

To hinder pestilence.

Was not this a good man—

Whose life was but a span,

Whose name was Sutton—

As Locke, or Doctor South,

Or Sherlock upon Death,

Or Sir Isaac Newton?