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money to purchase for him, until he had got about thirty pounds of her money & then she would delay the marriage no longer. Tom then took the old woman and girl aside, and made the following apology: Madam, said he, I am very willing to wed with my dear Polly, for she appears as an angel in my eyes, but I am sorry, very sorry to acquaint you, that I am not a fit match for her. What child, says the old woman, there is not a fitter match in the whole world for my Polly, I did not think your country could afford such a clever youth as what I hear of you to be, you shall neither want gold nor silver, nor a good horse to ride upon and when I die, you shall have my all, O but says Tom; Madam that's not the thing, the stop is this; When I was in Scotland, I got a stroke from a horse's foot, on the bottom of the belly, which has quite disabled me below, that I cannot perform a husbands duty in bed Then the old woman clapt her hands & fell a-crying, O! if it had been any impediment but that, but that, but that wofu' that! which gold & silver cannot purchase, and yet the poorest people, that is common beggars, have plenty of it. The old wife & her daughter sat crying and wringing their hands, & Tom stood