( 6 )
I'll go home to my wife & children who are poor,
I us'd to abuse her, and call her a whore;
The more I said to her, the more she did cry,
O what a silly drunkard and blockhead was I.
But if I had been rul'd by my wife at the first,
I might have had silver and gold in my purse,
For to maintain my wife and children so small,
But I prov'd a drunkard and ruin'd them all.
But now I'll refrain, it's high time to amend,
My money I'll save it will be my best friend,
But to speak of the alc-wives, how oft I them fed,
Whilst my children & wife were starving for bread.
Comc now all ye drunkards take warning by me,
Your folly in time I would have you to see,
And all in your youth have your time to begin,
Pray think on yourselves, let the landladies spin.
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The CHOICE of a WIFE.
IN city, town, & village, my fancy oft has mov'd,
A Phillis and a Chloe, I ev'ry where have lov'd,
But, tired with variety, to marriage I'm inclin'd,
Would fortune only grant me a partner to my mind.
Then I'd go no more a roving,
But constant as the dove,
My time I'd pass with such a lass,
In harmony and love.
Then I'd go no more a roving,
I care not for Complexion, be she black, brown or fair,
If she has but discretion, and meaning in her air,
Her shape I'd have graceful, to pride & folly blind,
To mind the one thing needful, to cultivate the mind.
Then I'd go no more a roving, &c.
An animated form, where sense & sweetness move,
And innocence refining the tenderness of love:
From scolding, & from scandal, I'd have her tongue be free,
And always neat and clean keep herself and family,
Then I'd go no more a roving, &c.
