4
4.
A score of years are more than run
Since I, with only one pound one,
In business for myself begun
My lot to try,
And found this world required a man
Stern, deep, and sly.
5.
A man as subtle as auld Nick,
Prepar'd to meet or play a trick;
Who would at nothing stand or stick,
But boldly strive,
By every means, through thin and thiek,
His point to drive.
6.
So ticklish now is every trade,
No business-man well can evade
Telling at times what may be said
To be a lie;
And none to cheat are now afraid,
'Tis do or die.
7.
Men might be honest long ago,
And justiee like a stream might flow;
But times are altered so much so,
That I may say,
An honest man is not below
The sun this day.
8.
Truth, honour, justiee, and so forth,
Have long been banish'd from the earth;
Had I been honest since my birth,
I had not been
The man I am, nor ever worth
A penny preen.
9.
Ye know yourselves as well as I,
I work twa farms, and sell and buy
All kinds of victual, horse, and kye,
And d———n the skin,
However selfish, shrewd, or sly,
Could tak' me in.
