A Looking-Glass for a Bad Husband: Or,
A Caveat for a Spend-thrift.
You that are guilty of that sinful Crime
Of Drunkenness, strive for to leave it off in time:
Lay up your Money, do not it vainly spend;
For in your greatest need, it will be your best Friend.
Endeavour in your Youth, lest in old Age you want;
For when that Poverty doth come, Friends will be scant.
To the Tune of, The Poor Man's Comfort: Or, Digby.
By T.L.
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YOu that are bad Husbands
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I pray you draw near,
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Good Counsel here's for you,
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if you will give ear:
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Then observe it rightly,
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and bear it in mind,
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A great deal of Benefit
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in it you'l find.
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Here you may learn how
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to live gallant and brave,
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If you will endeavour
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for to get and save.
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Then take care how in idle
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your mony you spend,
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For in time of need
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it will be your best Friend.
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You see that the times
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are very hard grown,
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Trading it is dead both
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in Country and Town:
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If a Man he han't where withal
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him to maintain
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To make his complaint
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it is all but in vain.
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For money is scarce,
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and Charity's cold:
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Then save some-thing in youth
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against you are old.
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Then take care, etc.
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Now you that intend
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good Husbands to be,
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Observe well this Rule
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in every degree:
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If you do get money
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don't spend it in wast,
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For when it is gone,
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you will want it at last.
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To be careful and saving,
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you must alwayes strive,
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O that is the right ready
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way for to thrive.
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Then take care how in wast
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thou dost thy money spend,
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For in time of need
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it will be thy best Friend.
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FIrst at the imployment
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and work be not slack,
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To get Food for the Belly,
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and cloaths for the Back.
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When then thou hast got money,
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don't spend it in vain:
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But keep it and save it,
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thy charge to maintain.
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Take care and refrain
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from all bad company:
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For that is the high way
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unto Poverty.
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Then take care how in wast
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thou dost thy mony spend,
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For in time of need
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it will be thy best Friend.
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Refrain from the Ale-house,
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and don't it frequent:
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To be thrifty and careful
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let thy mind be bent.
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But if thou chance
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with a friend for to meet,
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With a Flaggon or two
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thou then maist him greet:
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And when thou hast done,
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then to work again fall:
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Some thing hath some labour,
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though it be but small.
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Then take, etc.
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If that thou art blest
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with a good careful Wife,
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Be loving unto her
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all dayes of thy Life,
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If she gives thee good counsel,
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do not it refrain,
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Thoul't find at the last
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it will be for thy gain.
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Shun the company of Harlots,
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for they'l thee betray,
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And bring both thy Body
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and Soul to decay.
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Then take, etc.
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Also unto Gameing
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do not thy self use,
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To hazard thy money,
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in danger to lose.
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For many by gaming
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confounds their Estate,
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And then they repent it,
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when it is too late.
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Such idle course besure
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alwaees defye,
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Endeavour for to follow
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good Husbandry.
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Then take, etc.
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But some there that be that
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will at an Ale-house sit,
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And waste away credit,
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both money and wit:
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Until they have spent all,
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they will nere quiet rest,
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But makes themselves
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worser then is any beast.
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So they can have their
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fill of strong drink, they don't care
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Tho the belly and back
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do go empty and bare.
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Then take, etc.
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I heard of a Prodigal
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swaggering young Hair,
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Who spent six hundred pound
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in less than two year:
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He capor'd and vapor'd,
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and took his delight:
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He ranted in Taverns
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both day and night:
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But when all his Gold
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it was wasted and gone,
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O then he was slighted
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by every one.
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Then take, etc.
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And thus you may see
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that bad Husbandry
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Will bring a Man at last
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unto beggary.
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For those that are spend-thrifts,
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alwayes thred-bare be.
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With their cloaths all torn,
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a sad sight for to see:
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But those that are careful
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their mony to save,
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They doth maintain their
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Family gallant and brave.
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Then take, etc.
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To conclude, I advise
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all good Fellows that are
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In time, of the main chance
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for fo have a care,
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Take heed, and be saving
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of that which thou hast.
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It is not good in plenty
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for to make waste.
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Remember this Proverb,
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and bear it in mind.
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When Poverty comes
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Frindship is hard to find.
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Then take care how in wast
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thou dost thy money spend,
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For in time of need
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it will be thy best Friend.
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