So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,—

Quote byJohn Gay · 1685–1732

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The What d' ye call it (1715). Compare: "The time of paying a shot in a tavern among good fellows, or Pantagruelists, is still called in France a 'quart d'heure de Rabelais,'—that is, Rabelais's quarter of an hour, when a man is uneasy or melancholy", Life of Rabelais (Bohn's edition), p. 13.

English (original)

So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,— The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more.

— John Gay

More from John Gay

Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand.

All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.

'Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined.

My lodging is on the cold ground, And hard, very hard, is my fare, But that which grieves me more Is the coldness of my dear.

Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.

Remote from cities liv'd a swain, Unvex'd with all the cares of gain; His head was silver'd o'er with age, And long experience made him sage.