Page:Old Adam the father of us all.pdf/4

[4] Your father a rich merchant is,

Therefore I think it is amiss,

That you should now so silly be,

To love so poor a maid as she.

I know a charming beauty bright,

She's daughter to a worthy knight:

Therefore, dear son, be rul'd by me,

And she shall be a wife to thee.

I told my mother very plain,

All her endeavours are in vain:

What though my Betty she is poor,

Yet none but her I must adore.

Her beauty is my whole delight,

On which I gaze both day and night;

She has wit and virtue now in store,

What can a man desire more?

My mother hearing my reply,

She told my father presently;

Who now has sworn it shall be so,

That I with speed to sea should go.

My dearest Betty do not grieve,

For I will never thee deceive;

What though my body must go to sea,

My heart shall still remain with thee.

And dearest I will send thee down,

Unto a friend at ,

Where you shall live from envy free,

My dear, till I return to thee.