Has fortune made thee poor, dost thou desire
To heap up glorious mire?
Come to this stream where every drop’s a Pearl
Might buy an Earl:
Drench thy selfe soundly here and thou shalt rise
Richer than both the ‘Indies.
So may’st thou still enjoy with full content
Midas his wish without his punishment.
Anon., ‘An Ode in the praise of Sack’ (1656), seventh verse of eight.
Included in the Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse (1934), which credits it as being published originally in Parnassus Biceps, 1656.
Diving for Pearls 