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EBBA 31493

British Library - Roxburghe
Ballad XSLT Template
The Merchants SON,
AND THE
BEGGAR-WENCH of HULL.

YOU gallants all I pray draw near,
And you a pleasant Jest shall hear,
How a Beggar Wench of Hull,
A Merchants Son of York did gull.
Fa, la, etc.

One morning on a certain day,
He cloathd himself in rich array,
And took with him as it was told,
The summ of sixty pounds in gold,
Fa, la, etc.

So mounting on a prancing steed,
He towards Hull did ride with speed;
Where in his way he chancd to see,
A Beggar Wench of mean degree.

She asked him for some relief,
And said with tears of seeming grief,
That she had neither house nor home,
But for her living was forcd to roam.

He seemed to lament her case,
And said, Thou hast a pretty face;
If thou wilt lodge with me, he cryd,
With gold thou shalt be satisfyd.

Her silence seemd to give consent,
So to a little house they went;
The landlord laughd to see him kiss,
The Beggar Wench a ragged Miss.

He needs must have a dinner drest,
And calld for liquor of the best;
And there they tost of bumpers free,
The jolly Beggar Wench and He.

A dose she gave him as tis thought,
Which by the landlady was bought;
For all the night he lay in bed,
Secure as if he had been dead.

Then she put on all his cloaths,
His coat, his breeches, and his hose;

His hat, his perriwig likewise,
And seizd upon the golden prize.

Her greasy petticoat and gown,
In which she rambled up and down,
She left the Merchants Son in lieu,
Her bag of bread and bottle too.

Down stairs like any spark she goes,
Five guineas to the host she throws,
And smiling then she went away,
And neer was heard of to this day.

When he had took his long repose,
He lookd about and mist his cloaths;
And saw her rags lie in the room,
How he did storm, nay fret and fume.

Yet wanting cloaths and friends in town,
Her greasy petticoat and gown
He did put on, and mounted strait,
Bemoaning his unhappy fate.

You would have laughd to see the dress
Which he was in, yet neertheless,
He homewards rode, and often swore,
Hed never kiss a Beggar more.


Printed and Sold in Aldermary Church Yard,
Bow-Lane, London.

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