The Somersetshire LADY:
CONTAINING
Her sorrowful Lamentation for her Misfortunes, in an Extravagant SPENDTHRIFT,
who by Riotous Living, brought her to Ruine.
To the Tune of If Love's a sweet Passion, etc.
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I Am a young Wife that has cause to complain,
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Yet I fear all my sorrowful Sighs are in vain;
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For my Husband he is an invincible Sot,
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There is nothing he minds but the Pipe, and the Pot:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must sad Sorrow and Grief undergoe.
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I am a Knight's Daughter of Somersetshire ,
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And my Portion was Three or Four hundred a Year;
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Which my rambling Husband has blasted of late,
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For he spends at a woeful Extravagant rate:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must, etc.
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When first he came to me, I needs must confess,
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He came, like a Spark, in an Officer's Dress;
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But in drinking so many good Gallons of Sack,
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He has scarce a good Coat, or a Shirt to his Back:
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When a Huaband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must, etc.
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I know he will revel, and thunder, and call,
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And suppose there be Twenty, he'll pay for them all,
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While they are a toping his full flowing Bowl,
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They will count him a noble and generous Soul:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must sad Sorrow and Grief undergoe.
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It is but a folly to mention my Birth,
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Or to think of my former rich Pleasure and Mirth;
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For, alas! I am drowned in Floods of sad Tears,
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For I han't been a Wife above Three or Four Years:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must sad Sorrow and Grief undergoe.
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Believe me good People, as this is my Hand,
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He has swallowed about Threescore Acres of Land,
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With an Orchard, and House, a Draw-bridge, and great Moat,
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He has swallowed them down his devouring Throat:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must, etc.
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To see my vast Portion thus wastfully spent,
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It has cost me, in private, to sigh and lament,
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And a Thousand times wishing I ne'er had been born;
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For my Life is a burthen, my Days are forlorn:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must, etc.
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I often have told him, when all is consum'd,
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In Prison, with sorrow, he then will be doom'd;
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Yet he never regards what I say in the least,
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But abroad with his Croneys he'll Revel and Feast:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must, etc.
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The Chains, and rich Jewels, I formerly wore,
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They are gone, I have little, or nothing in store;
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And besides, all my Lands are here mortgag'd, and sold,
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There is nothing but Sorrow and Grief I behold:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must, etc.
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O what will become of my Children dear,
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They will live to know Hardship, and Sorrow, I fear,
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When they might have liv'd happy, nay glorious and great,
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If their Father he had not destroy'd their Estate:
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When a Husband he is a sad Spendthrift, you know
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Then a Wife must sad Sorrow and Grief undergoe.
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