Page:Comical and entertaining dialogue, between a generous tradesman and his old stingy wife.pdf/4

( 4 ) Husband, Therefore it ſhan’t be ſaid I keep him poor And thin, becauſe I lock my cupboard-door: I'll have no Smith’s embargo on my food, Eat boys- as often as yourſelves ſee good; Let them have change of mutton, beef, and pork, Do you take care they feed, I'll made’em work, My ſervants ſhall to no relations creep. And there complain of what a houſe I keep; Tell’em their dingy miſtreſs bears the rule, And cry becauſe they ha’n’t a belly-full. Let me have no ſuch doings I command, I ſcorn to give a wife the upper-hand; I’m maſter here, mind you your maids concerns, No boy of mind ſhall want the food he earns.

Wife Lord! love, you cannot think what they de- vour , I vow and ſwear, they’re cramming ev’ry hour? Saw you how oft they to the cupboard come. You’d think they’d eat you out of houſe and home. One gobbles down two pound of bread and cheeſe. When almoſt burſt toth’ vault he runs for eaſe; From thence returns unburthen’d is a trace, And ſluffs his empty Guts with t’other ſlice: No ſooner is this wide-mouth’d Glutten gone, But t’other lean jaw’d cormorant ſneaks down, And he forſooth no cheſhire-cheeſe can eat. Hiſ dainty chops muſt break his faſt with meat,