Anonymous

“ For they cheat us in tobacco and snuff;
O all they want is poor people to cheat,
For they make it out by selling short weight.
⁠We're pinch'd in our bellies as also our clothes,
The shoemaker he pinches all of our shoes;
I'm sure the poor people have reason to sing,
And wish all these rogues in a halter to swing.
⁠The farmer, and miller, and butcher don't fail,
They're fond of pulling old Nick, by the tail,
If they do not lower the price of the meat,
Jack-catch in a halter will make them to sweat. ”

“ Cover'd with laurels, surrounded with glory,
his fears shew'd the share that he had in the wars:
Under brave Rodney he fought and obtain'd
both the thanks and applause of his captain and crew,
But cruel the fate and unkind, that ordain'd,
such an end to my Henry so brave and so true.
With rapture he fixed his fond eyes upon me,
the few hours he'd leave for to spend upon shore;
My heart, how it beat when be, tore himself from me,
tho' little I thought I would ne'er see him more ”

“ Then I must provide both blankets and pins.
⁠Blankets and pins, blankets and pins,
⁠Then I must provide both blankets and pins.
⁠When my wife lies in, the charges are great,
There is bread and cheese for the gossips to eat,
There's gruel and sugar for the lying in wife,
Those things are sufficient to plague a man's life. ”