[1: strong ale] [2: cup or platter] [3: water; pot] [4: wine] [5: mouth] [6: wife] [7: fornicating]
"A BEGGAR I'LL BE" [Notes] [1660—1663]
[A black-letter broadside ballad]
I
A Beggar, a Beggar, a Beggar I'll be,
There's none leads a life more jocund than he;
A Beggar I was, and a Beggar I am,
A Beggar I'll be, from a Beggar I came;
If, as it begins, our trading do fall,
We, in the Conclusion, shall Beggars be all.
Tradesmen are unfortunate in their Affairs,
And few Men are thriving but Courtiers and Play'rs.
II
A Craver my Father, a Maunder my Mother, [1]
A Filer my Sister, a Filcher my Brother,
A Canter my Uncle, that car'd not for Pelf,
A Lifter my Aunt, and a Beggar myself;
In white wheaten Straw, when their Bellies were full,
Then was I got between a Tinker and a Trull.
And therefore a Beggar, a Beggar I'll be,
For there's none lives a Life more jocund than he
III
For such pretty Pledges, as Lullies from Hedges. [2]
We are not in fear to be drawn upon Sledges,
But sometimes the Whip doth make us to skip
And then we from Tything to Tything do trip;
But when in a poor Boozing-Can we do bib it, [3]
We stand more in dread of the Stocks than the Gibbet
And therefore a merry mad Beggar I'll be
For when it is night in the Barn tumbles he.
IV
We throw down no Altar, nor never do falter,
So much as to change a Gold-chain for a Halter;
Though some Men do flout us, and others do doubt us,
We commonly bear forty Pieces about us;
But many good Fellows are fine and look fiercer,
And owe for their Cloaths to the Taylor and Mercer:
And if from the Harmans I keep out my Feet, [4]
I fear not the Compter, King's Bench, nor the Fleet. [5]