Bristle.—A brush-man. “Come, buy a save-all. Buy a comb-brush, or a pot-brush; buy a flint, or a steel, or a tinder-box.”
Ditty.—A ballad-man. “Come, new books, new books, newly printed and newly come forth! All sorts of ballads and pleasant books! The Famous History of Tom Thumb and Unfortunate Jack, A Hundred Goodly Lessons and Alas, poor Scholar, whither wilt thou go? The second part of Mother Shipton’s Prophecies, newly made by a gentleman of good quality, foretelling what was done four hundred years ago, and A Pleasant Ballad of a bloody fight seen i’ th’ air, which, the astrologers say, portends scarcity of fowl this year. The Ballad of the Unfortunate Lover. I have George of Green, Chivy Chase, Collins and the Devil; or, Room for Cuckolds, The Ballad of the London ’Prentice, Guy of Warwick, The Beggar of Bethnal Green, the Honest Milkmaid; or, I must not wrong my Dame, The Honest Fresh Cheese and Cream Woman. Then I have The Seven Wise Men of Gotham, A Hundred Merry Tales, Scoggin’s Jests; or, A Book of Prayers and Graces for Young Children. I have very strange news from beyond seas. The King of Morocco has got the black jaundice, and the Duke of Westphalia is sick of the swine-pox, with eating bacon; the Moors increase daily, and the King of Cyprus mourns for the Duke of Saxony, that is dead of the stone; and Presbyter John is advanced to Zealand; the sea ebbs and flows but twice in four-and-twenty hours, and the moon has changed but once the last month.”
Budget.—A Tinker. “Have you any work for the tinker? Old brass, old pots, old kettles. I’ll mend them all with a tara-tink, and never hurt your metal.”
Gum.—A Tooth drawer. “Have you any corns upon your feet or toes? Any teeth to draw?”
Jenniting.—An Apple wench. “Come buy my pearmains, curious John Apples, dainty pippins? Come, who buy? who buy?”
Curds.—A fresh Cheese and Cream woman. “I have fresh cheese and cream; I have fresh cheese and cream.”
The Sorrowful Lamentations
of the
Pedlars and Petty Chapmen,
For the Hardness of the Times and the Decay of Trade.
To the Tune of “My Life and my Death.”