Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of England | Page 4

appear,?And prove by experience I can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
And now, to be brief in discourse,?In plain terms I'll tell you my mind;?My qualities you shall all know,?And to what my humour's inclined:?I hate all dissembling base knaves?And pickthanks whoever they be,?And for painted-faced drabs, and such like,?They shall never get penny of me.?For this I will make it appear,?And prove by experience I can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
Nor can I abide any tongues?That will prattle and prate against reason,?About that which doth not concern them;?Which thing is no better than treason.?Wherefore I'd wish all that do hear me?Not to meddle with matters of state,?Lest they be in question called for it,?And repent them when it is too late.?For this I will make it appear,?And prove by experience I can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
O fie upon spiteful neighbours,?Whose malicious humours are bent,?And do practise and strive every day?To wrong the poor innocent.?By means of such persons as they,?There hath many a good mother's son?Been utterly brought to decay,?Their wives and their children undone.?For this I will make it appear,?And prove by experience I can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
O fie upon forsworn knaves,?That do no conscience make?To swear and forswear themselves?At every third word they do speak:?So they may get profit and gain,?They care not what lies they do tell;?Such cursed dissemblers as they?Are worse than the devils of hell.?For this I will make it appear,?And prove by experience I can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
O fie upon greedy bribe takers,?'Tis pity they ever drew breath,?For they, like to base caterpillars,?Devour up the fruits of the earth.?They're apt to take money with both hands,?On one side and also the other,?And care not what men they undo,?Though it be their own father or brother.?Therefore I will make it appear,?And show very good reasons I can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
O fie upon cheaters and thieves,?That liveth by fraud and deceit;?The gallows do for such blades groan,?And the hangmen do for their clothes wait.?Though poverty be a disgrace,?And want is a pitiful grief,?'Tis better to go like a beggar?Than to ride in a cart like a thief.?For this I will make it appear,?And prove by experience I can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
And now let all honest men judge,?If such men as I have here named?For their wicked and impudent dealings,?Deserveth not much to be blamed.?And now here, before I conclude,?One item to the world I will give,?Which may direct some the right way,?And teach them the better to live.?For now I have made it appear,?And many men witness it can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
1. I' th' first place I'd wish you beware What company you come in, For those that are wicked themselves May quickly tempt others to sin.
2. If youths be induced with wealth, And have plenty of silver and gold, I'd wish them keep something in store, To comfort them when they are old.
3. I have known many young prodigals, Which have wasted their money so fast, That they have been driven in want, And were forced to beg at the last.
4. I'd wish all men bear a good conscience, And in all their actions be just; For he's a false varlet indeed That will not be true to his trust.
And now to conclude my new song,?And draw to a perfect conclusion,?I have told you what is in my mind,?And what is my [firm] resolution.?For this I have made it appear,?And prove by experience I can,?'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world?To be a plain-dealing man.
Poem: THE VANITIES OF LIFE.
[The following verses were copied by John Clare, the?Northamptonshire peasant, from a MS. on the fly-leaves of an old book in the possession of a poor man, entitled The World's best Wealth; a Collection of choice Councils in Verse and Prose. Printed for A. Bettesworth, at the Red Lion in Paternoster-row, 1720. They were written in a 'crabbed, quaint hand, and difficult to decipher.' Clare remitted the poem (along with the original MS.) to Montgomery, the author of The World before the Flood, &c. &c., by whom it was published in the Sheffield Iris. Montgomery's criticism is as follows:- 'Long as the poem appears to the eye, it will abundantly repay the trouble of perusal, being full of condensed and admirable thought, as well as diversified with exuberant imagery, and embellished with peculiar felicity of language: the moral points in the closing couplets of the stanzas are often powerfully enforced.' Most readers will agree in the justice of these remarks. The poem was, probably, as Clare supposes, written about the