When friends are at your hearthside met,
Sweet courtesy has done its most
If you have made read more

When friends are at your hearthside met,
Sweet courtesy has done its most
If you have made each guest forget
That he himself is not the host.

For 't is always fair weather
When good fellows get together
With a stein on the table read more

For 't is always fair weather
When good fellows get together
With a stein on the table and a good song ringing clear.

Unbidden guests Are often welcomest when they are gone.

Unbidden guests Are often welcomest when they are gone.

The first day a guest, the second day a guest, the third day a calamity.

The first day a guest, the second day a guest, the third day a calamity.

Hospitality sitting with gladness.

Hospitality sitting with gladness.

He kept no Christmas-house for once a yeere,
Each day his boards were fild with Lordly fare;
read more

He kept no Christmas-house for once a yeere,
Each day his boards were fild with Lordly fare;
He fed a rout of yeoman with his cheer,
Nor was his bread and beefe kept in with care;
His wine and beere to strangers were not spare,
And yet beside to all that hunger greved,
His gates were open, and they were there relived.

If my best wines mislike thy taste,
And my best service win thy frown,
Then tarry not, read more

If my best wines mislike thy taste,
And my best service win thy frown,
Then tarry not, I bid thee haste;
There's many another Inn in town.

No one can be so welcome a guest that he will not become an
annoyance when he has stayed read more

No one can be so welcome a guest that he will not become an
annoyance when he has stayed three continuous days in a friend's
house.
[Lat., Hospes nullus tam in amici hospitium diverti potest,
Quin ubi triduum continuum fuerit jam odiosus siet.]

Ah me, why did they build my house by the road to the market
town?

Ah me, why did they build my house by the road to the market
town?