Chamber Maid.
"May I be hang'd by some bell rope
If e'er I cribb'd an ounce of soap,
Or pocketed wax-candles' ends
To deal out slily to my friends;
Or, in the linen's gen'ral muster,
Made free with towel or with duster;
Or e'er did bribes from turners take,
The mops to spoil, or brooms to break;
Or in the bed-rooms made a stir
To call in the upholsterer,
As house-maids with dishonest view,
Are, as I've heard, so apt to do!
Or ever gave, in washing tub,
The linen a hard, tearing rub,
That might encrease the rags—a fee
Which household custom gives to me!
—That I speak truth, I here declare,
And Molly, too, the same will swear;
Who striking hard upon the dresser,
Hop'd Heaven itself would never bless her,
If, from whate'er she saw or knew
What had been promis'd was not true."