And though you go gay
In silks, as you may,
It is not the highway to heaven (as they say).
Repent then, repent you, for better, for worse,
And kiss not the gallows for cutting a purse.
Youth, youth, thou had’st better been starv’d by thy nurse,
Than live to be hang’d for cutting a purse.
All. An excellent ballad! an excellent ballad!
Edg. Friend, let me have the first, let me have the first, I pray you.
[As Nightingale reaches out the ballad, Edgworth slips the purse into his hand.