To sooth the listless hours of age,
AURELIO to his books applied,
And in the historian Pliny’s page
This pleasing anecdote he spied.

“The Snake does every year, ’tis said,
“Cast off his coat of faded dyes,
“And with it, too, the years that laid
“Too heavy on his head and eyes.”

‘Ho!’ quoth Aurelio, whilst he pored
On this amusing anecdote,
‘If youth is thus to be restored,
‘I soon will order a new coat.’

Another, and another too,
Increased the merry tailor’s bill;
Gay was Aurelio to the view,
Yet he grew old and older still.

He with some pride his dress survey’d,
With grief the wrinkles of his face;
And soon his solemn tones convey’d
The real sorrow of his case.

‘With his gay coat the Snake may range,
‘And every year improve in show;
‘Man suffers by the annual change,
‘And proves at best a batter’d Beau.’

Quoted from: John Blunt: Fashion, and other poems. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Browne, and Green, 1825.