Page:History of the blind beggar of Bethnal Green (2).pdf/15

15 dog with a bell, living on the charity of good people; my mother is a woman that sins for her bread. These are my parents, and I will not marry without their consent.

This struck our gallants as mute as a mouse; after which, they scrupled to believe that such homespun people could be the parents of such a charming maid; but when she gave them an account of her leaving them, they began to scratch their noddles, stamp on the ground, and draw in their horns faster than they put them out. The merchant, gentleman, and innkeeper, declaring, if it was so, she was to wife for them ; but the knight, who who had a good estate, and did not stand so much for interest, as the pleasing of his fancy, after he had paused a little, took the little maid by the hand, and said, you see, my dearest, how those who courted you in hopes of a fortune, are vanished, now they find their mistake; will you yield to one more constant ? you shall, without delay, be sole mistress of my heart. Which she answered