Page:Fifty years shepherd, and fifty a king.pdf/6

6 A man that has got a bad stomach,

Will make but a pitiful dinner;

And he that’s no victuals to eat,

His jaws will grow thinner and thinner.

You know that a dish of good meat

Is the comfort and joy of man’s life;

But he that’s no victuals to eat,

Has no need to draw out his knife.

A ploughman without e’er a plough,

I think he may live at his ease;

And a dairy without e’er a cow,

Will make but bad butter and cheese.

A man that is pitiful poor,

Has little or nothing to lose;

And he that has got ne’er a foot,

It saves him the buying of shoes.

A woman that never bore children,

Is barren, and so much the worse;

And he that is quite out of money,

Can have no need of a purse.

I hope there’s no one in this place,

Displeas’d any way with my song;

Come, buy up my ballads apace,

And I’ll pack up my awls, and begone.