The Unthankful Servant:
OR,
A Scolding Match between Two CRACKS of the TOWN,
Margery Merrythought, and Nancy her Mistress, who taught her her Trade.
As they happened to meet near the Piazza's in Covent-Garden.
To the Tune of If Love's a sweet Passion. Licensed according to Order.
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I.
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WEll met, my dear Sister, you're grown very strange,
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For tho' every night thro' the City I range,
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I have never beheld you this six Weeks or more;
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Have you such a full Trade at your Beldams own door,
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Without taking of pains for to walk too and fro?
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It is well for you Margery, if it be so.
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II.
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Why Nancy what makes you discourse at this rate,
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It is very well known, that I ne'er want a Mate;
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I have Lawyers, young Merchants, fine Sparks of the Town,
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That I need not go slaving, and trudge up and down,
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'Tis enough for such threadbare poor Housewives as you,
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To go cruising about for a Tester or two.
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III.
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You are but a Strumpet, your Friend to degrade,
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Pray remember last Winter I learn'd you your Trade;
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And altho' you have had greater Fortune than I,
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Yet a Friend you have found me, you cannot deny;
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When I took you with nothing both ragged and poor,
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Nay, and lent you the Topping & Gown which you wore.
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IV.
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But Mistress, quoth Margery, be not so hot,
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For the use of your Cloaths, you had half what I got,
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Which amounted sometimes to a Crown in a day;
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Therefore I to my Grief did sufficiently pay
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For the use of your Topping, black Patches and Fans,
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And the best of my Work you took out of my hands.
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V.
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You are but a Hussy for telling me so,
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They were none but my Quarterly Cullies you know;
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Honest Thomas the Barber, and Robin the Cook;
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Not a penny or farthing of Money I took;
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But I trusted till they did their Wages receive,
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And at this I was told, You did constantly grieve.
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VI.
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'Tis false: pray remember the Counsellor's Clark,
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Which I pick'd up my self near the Strand in the dark,
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Then I brought him home, thinking no harm I declare,
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I agreed for a Guinea, he liked my Ware:
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But you ogled him up to your Chamber above;
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Thus I lost a good Booty, a Pox of your Love.
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VII.
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The reason of that I will presently clear,
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He had been my own Cully full three or four year;
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He gives freely two Guineys, you bargain'd for one,
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Now I then understanding streight what you had done,
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I endeavour'd to get him from you in a trice,
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I being resolved to keep up the Price.
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VIII.
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But how did you keep up the price, when you brought
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Home a Taylor, who gave you no more than a Groat?
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It is very well known I ne'er wrought at that rate,
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I would lye still a Month e'er a penny I'd bate
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Of a Guinea, and that shall be honestly pay'd,
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It is such Jilts as you that have run down the Trade.
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IX.
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You see my rich Topping both gaudy and gay,
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I am Coach'd from a Tavern, a Ball, or a Play;
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Whilst you here in a Tawdry Dress walk the street,
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And are glad of a 'Prentice, or whom you can meet;
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I'll not spend my Breath on you, and therefore adieu
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'Tis a Scandal for me to stand talking to you.
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FINIS.
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