Page:Dorsetshire garland, or, The beggar's wedding.pdf/4

 For to go and gather dazies with Jamie will go;

Her Father anſwer'd, it muſt not be ſo,

You muſt ſtay at home till we come again,

This innocent child, like a lamb to be ſlain,

Did go with the beggar for many a mile;

At length he did ſay to him with a ſmile

Pray where are you going, Sir, tell unto me,

Muſt I go no more pretty Suſan to ſee!

His innocent talk made the beggar relent,

So home to his wife with the child then he went

He told her the ſtory, the woman ſhe ſaid,

He is a ſweet creature, a well favour'd babe;

A begging now with me, I ſay let him go,

We'll call him our ſon let us order it ſo.

But five years of age was this Merchant's Son,

Yet he for the loſs of his Suſan did mourn;

The Beggarman's Wife to her Huſband did ſay,

Come let us contrive to ſteal Suſan away;

It will be but juſtice to that cruel man,

That wanted his innocent life to trap in:

The Beggar to Dorset then inſtantly went,

To ſteal this young Lady was reſolute bent.

He brought her ten miles till he came to a town

He ſtript off her clothes that ſhe might not be known

And over the hedge he threw them indeed,

So homeward at night he did haſten with ſpeed.

In two or three days ſhe arriv'd at his cell;

Where a noble legion of beggars did dwell;

Where now we will leave the two lovers ſo young,

And turn to the Knight who does bitterly mourn.

A hue and a cry ſends through every town,

For finding his Daughter, five hundred pounds;