Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of England | Page 4

upright in the world,
Heaven knows I am wondrous
willing.
Although that my clothes be threadbare,
And my calling be
simple and poor,
Yet will I endeavour myself
To keep off the wolf
from the door.
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, 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.
0. 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.
0. 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.
0. 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.
0. 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