All the workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-Poet Being Sixty and three in Number. Collected into one Volume by the Author [i.e. John Taylor]: With sundry new Additions, corrected, reuised, and newly Imprinted |
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 | All the workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-Poet |  |
95
[THE BEGGER.]
THE PRAISE, ANTIQVITY, AND COMMODITIE OF BEGGERIE, BEGGERS, AND BEGGING.
A Begger from an
Ancient house begins,
Old Adams sonne, and heire vnto his sins:
And as our father Adam did possesse
The world, there's not a Begger that hath lesse.
For whereof is the world compact and fram'd
But Elements, which to our sence are nam'd,
The Earth, the Ayre, the Water, and the Fire,
With which all liue, without which all expire?
These, euery Begger hath in plenteous store,
And euery mighty Monarch hath no more.
Nor can the greatest Potentate aliue,
The meanest Begger of these things depriue.
The Earth is common, both for birth or Graues,
For Kings, and Beggers, Free-men, and for Slaues:
And a poore Begger as much Ayre will draw,
As he that could keepe all the world in awe,
The Water, be it Riuers, Seas or Spring,
'Tis equall for a Begger as a King.
And the Celestiall Sunn's bright fire, from Heauen
'Mongst all estates most equally is giuen,
Giu'n, not to be ingrost, or bought, nor sold,
For gifts and bribes, or base corrupted gold.
These things nor poore or rich, can sell nor buy,
Free for all liuing creatures, till they dye.
An Emperour, a great command doth beare:
But yet a Begger's more secure from feare.
A King may vse disports (as fits the season)
But yet a Begger is more safe from Treason.
A Prince (amidst his cares) may merry be,
But yet a Begger is from flatt'rers free.
A Duke, is a degree magnificent,
But yet a Begger may haue more content.
A Marquesse is a title of great fame,
A Begger may offend more, with lesse blame.
An Earle, an honourable house may keepe,
But yet a Begger may more soundly sleepe.
A Vizecount may be honour'd and renoun'd,
But yet a Begger's on a surer ground.
A Baron, is a Stile belou'd and Noble,
But yet a Begger is more free from trouble.
A Knight, is good (if his deserts be such)
But yet a Begger may not owe so much.
A good Esquire is worthy of respect,
A Begger's in lesse care, though more neglect.
A Gentleman, may good apparell weare,
A Begger, from the Mercers booke is cleare.
A Seruing-man that's young, in older yeeres
Oft proues an aged Begger, it appeares.
Thus all degrees and states, what e're they are,
With Beggers happinesse cannot compare:
Heau'n is the roofe that Canopies his head,
The Cloudes his Curtaines, and the earth his bed.
The Sunne his fire, the Starre's his candle light,
The Moone his Lampe that guides him in the night.
When scorching Sol makes other mortals sweat,
Each tree doth shade a Begger from his heat:
When nipping Winter makes the Cow to quake,
A Begger will a Barne for harbour take,
When Trees & Steeples are o're-turn'd with winde,
A begger will a hedge for shelter finde:
And though his inconueniences are store,
Yet still he hath a salue for eu'ry sore,
He for new fashions, owes the Taylor nothing,
Nor to the Draper is in debt for cloathing:
A Begger, doth not begger or deceaue
Others, by breaking like a bankerupt Knaue.
He's free from shoulder-clapping Sergeants clawes,
He's out of feare of Enuies canker'd iawes:
He liues in such a safe and happy state,
That he is neither hated, nor doth hate.
None beares him malice, rancour, or despight,
And he dares kill, those that dare him backe-bite.
Credit he neither hath, or giue to none,
All times and seasons, vnto him are one:
He longs not for, or feare a quarter day,
For Rent he neither doth receiue or pay.
Let Nation against Nation warres denounce,
Let Cannons thunder, and let Musket bounce:
Let armies, armies, force 'gainst force oppose,
He nothing feares, nor nothing hath to lose.
Let Towns and Towres with batt'ry be o're-turn'd,
Let women be deflowr'd and houses burn'd:
Let men fight pell-mell, and lose life and lim,
If earth and skies escape, all's one to him.
O happy begg'ry, euery liberall Art
Hath left the thanklesse world, and takes thy part:
And learning, conscience, and simplicity,
Plaine dealing, and true perfect honesty,
Sweet Poetry, and high Astronomy,
Musickes delightfull heau'nly harmony,
All these (with begg'ry) most assuredly
Haue made a friendly league to liue and dye.
For Fortune hath decreed, and holds it fit,
Not to giue one man conscience, wealth, and wit:
For they are portions which to twaine belong,
And to giue all to one were double wrong,
Therefore although the Goddesse want her eyes,
Yet in her blinded bounty she is wise.
I will not say, but wealth and wisedome are
In one, ten, or in more, but 'tis most rare:
And such men are to be in peace or warres,
Admir'd like blacke Swans, or like blazing Starres.
Two sorts of people fills the whole world full,
The witty Begger, and the wealthy Gull:
A Scholler, stor'd with Arts, with not one crosse,
And Artlesse Nabal stor'd with Indian drosse.
I haue seene learning tatter'd, bare and poore,
Whilst Barbarisme domineerd with store:
I haue knowne knowledge, in but meane regard,
Whil'st ignorance hath rob'd it of reward:
And with Coxcombs, I haue heard dispute,
Whilst profound Iudgements must be dumb and mute.
Apollo with aduice did wisely grant,
That Poets should be poore, and liue in want:
And though plaine Beggers they doe not appeare,
Yet their estates doe shew their kin is neere.
Parnassus Mount is fruitlesse, bare and sterill,
And all the Muses poore in their apparell:
Bare legg'd, and footed, with disheuel'd haire,
Nor Buskins: Shooes, or Head-tires for to weare.
So farre they are from any shew of thrift,
They scarce haue e'r a smock themselues to shift.
Homer that was the Prince of Poetry,
Was a blind Begger, and in pouerty:
And matchlesse Ouid, (in poore wretched case)
Exil'd from Rome to Pontus in disgrace.
And Mantuan Maro , for some space in Rome,
Was to Augustus but a Stable-Groome:
His verses shew he had a learned head,
Yet all his profit was but bread and bread.
A Lowse hath six feet, frō whose creeping sprawl'd
The first Hexameters, that euer crawl'd:
And euer since, in mem'ry of the same,
A Lowse amongst the Learned is no shame.
Then since the Mountaines barren Muses bare,
And Prince of Poets had a Beggers share:
Since their blinde Soueraigne was a Begger poore,
How can the Subiects but be voyd of store?
What are their figures, numbers, types and tropes,
But Emblems of poore shadowes, and vaine hopes?
Their allegories, similies, allusions,
Threed-bare doe end in beggerly conclusions:
Nor can their Comedies, and Tragedies,
Their Comitragy, Tragicomedies,
No pastorall preterplupastorall,
Their Morall studies, and Historicall,
Their sharp Iambick, high Heroick Saphique,
And all wherewith their painefull studies traffique,
All these cannot allow a meanes compleate,
To keepe them out of debt with cloathes & meate.
And though a Poet haue th'accomplish'd partes
Of Learning, and the Axiomes of all Artes:
What though he study all his braines to dust,
To make his Fame immortall, and from rust,
Reuoluing day by day, and night by night,
And waste himselfe in giuing others light,
Yet this is all the Guerdon he shall haue,
That begg'ry will attend him to his graue.
He (in his owne Conceite) may haue this blisse,
And sing, My minde to me a Kingdome is.
But 'tis a Kingdome wanting forme or matter,
Or substance, like the Mooneshine in the water.
For as a learned Poet wrote before,
Grosse Gold runs headlong from them to the Bore:
For which this vnauoyded Vow Ile make,
To loue a Begger for a Poets sake.
I that ne'r dranke of Agganippes Well,
That in Parnassus Suburbes scarce doe dwell,
That neuer tasted the Pegasian Spring,
Or Tempe, nor e're heard the Muses sing,
I (that in Verse) can onely Rime and smatter
Quite from the purpose, method, or the matter.
Yet some for friendship, Ignorance, or pitty,
Will say my lines may passe, indifferent, pritty:
And for this little, Itching, Versing vaine,
With me the Begger vowes he will remaine.
But if I could but once true Poetry win,
He would sticke close to me, is as my skin.
And sure if any man beneath the Sky,
Had to his Nurse a Witch, it must be I,
For I remember many yeeres agoe,
When I would Cry, as Children vse to doe:
My Nurse to still me, or to make me cease
Frō crying, would say, Hush lambe, pray thee peace.
But I (like many others froward boyes)
Would yawle, & bawle, and make a wawling noyse.
Then she (in anger) in her armes would snatch me,
And bid the Begger, or Bull-begger catch me;
With take him Begger, take him, would she say,
Then did the Begger such hard holdfast lay
Vpon my backe, that yet I neuer could,
Nor euer shall inforce him leaue his hold.
The reason therefore why I am not Rich,
I thinke is, 'cause my Nurse was halfe a witch.
But since it is decreed that I must be
A Begger, welcome begg'ry vnto me:
Ile patiently embrace my destin'd Fate,
And liue as well as some of higher Rate.
Yet shall my begg'ry no strange Suites deuise,
As Monopolies to catch Fleas and Flyes:
Or the Sole making of all Butchers prickes,
Or Corkes for bottles, or for euery fixe
Smelt, Seacrab, Flounder, Playce, or Whiting mop,
One, as a Duty vnto me to drop,
Nor to marke Cheeses, Ile not beg at all,
Nor for the Mouse-trap Geometricall.
Nor will I impudently beg for Land,
Nor (with Ambition) beg to haue Command:
Or meate, or cloathes, or that which few men giue,
Ile neuer beg for money whilst I liue.
Yet money I esteeme a precious thing,
Because it beares the picture of my King:
Vnto my King I will a seruant be,
And make his pictures seruants vnto me,
One onely Begg'ry euer I'le imbrace,
Ile beg for grace, of him that can giue grace,
Who all things feedes and fils, and ouer-seeth,
Who giues,, and casteth no man in the teeth.
So much for that, now to my Theame againe.
What vertues Begg'ry still doth entertaine.
First amongst Beggers, ther's not one in twenty,
But hath the Art of memory most plenty:
When those that are possest with riches store,
(If e'r they were in Beggers state and poore)
They quite forget it, and will euer hate
The memory of any Beggers state.
For fortune, fauour, or benignity,
May rayse a Begger vnto dignity:
When like a bladder, puft with pride and pelfe,
Hee'l neither know his betters, nor himselfe,
But if a Begger hath bin wealthy euer,
He from his minde puts that remembrance neuer.
And thus if it be rightly vnderstood,
A Beggers Memory is euer good.
Nor he by Gluttony, or swinish surfet,
Doth purchase sickenes with his bodies forfeit.
On bonds, or bills, he borrowes not, or lends,
He neither by extortion gets or spends.
No Vsury he neither takes or gines:
Oppresse he cannot, yet opprest he liues.
Nor when he dyes, he leaues no wrangling heyres
To lose by Law that which was his or theirs.
Men that are blinde in Iudgement may see this,
Which of the Rich, or Beggers hath most blisse:
On which most pleasure, Fortune seemes to hurle,
The Lowsie Begger, or the gowty Churle:
The Ragged Begger sitting in the Stocks,
Or the Embrodered Gallant with the Pocks.
A Begger euery way is Adams Son,
For in a Garden Adam first begun:
And so a Begger euen from his birth,
Doth make his Garden the whole entire Earth.
The fields of Corne doth yeeld him straw & bread,
To Feed and Lodge, and Hat to hide his head:
And in the stead of cut-throat slaughtering shābles,
Each hedge allowes him Berryes from the brambles.
The Bullesse, hedg-Peake, Hips, & Hawes, and, Sloes,
Attend his appetite where e'r he goes:
As for his Sallets, better neuer was,
Then acute Sorrell, and sweet three-leau'd Grasse,
And for a Sawce he seldome is at charges,
For euery Crabtree doth affoord him Vergis,
His banket, sometimes is greene Beanes, and Peason,
Nuts, Peares, Plumbes, Apples, as they are in season.
His musicke waytes on him in euery bush,
The Mauis, Bulfinch, Blackbird and the Thrush:
The mounting Larke sings in the lofty Sky,
And Robin-redbrest makes him melody.
The Nightingale chants most melodiously,
The chirping Sparrow, and the chattering Pye.
My neighbour Cuckow, alwayes in one tune,
Sings like a Townesman still in May and Iune.
These feather'd Fidlers sing, and leape, and play,
The Begger takes delight, and God doth pay.
Moreouer (to accomplish his Content)
Ther's nothing wants to please his sight or sent.
The Earth embrodered with the various hew
Of Greene, Red, Yellow, Purple, Watched, Blue:
Carnation, Crimson, Damaske, spotles White,
And euery colour that may please the sight.
The odoriferous Mint, the Eglantine,
The Woodbine, Primerose, and the Cowslip fine,
The Honisuckle, and the Daffadill,
The fragrant Time, delights the Begger still.
He may plucke Violets in any place
And Rue, but very seldome hearbe of Grace:
Hearts-ease he hath and Loue and Idle both,
It in his bones hath a continuall growth.
His Drinke he neuer doth goe farre to looke,
Each Spring's his Host, his Hostesse is each Brooke:
Where he may quaffe and to't againe by fits,
And neuer stands in feare to hurt his wits,
For why that Ale, is Grandam Natures brewing,
And very seldome sets her Guests a spewing;
Vnmixt, and vnsophisticated drinke,
That neuer makes men stagger, reele and winke.
Besides, a Begger hath this pleasure more,
He neuer payes, or neuer goes on score:
But let him drinke and quaffe both night and day,
Ther's neither Chalke, nor Post, or ought to pay.
But after all this single-soal'd small Ale,
I thinke it best to tell a merry tale:
There was a Rich hard miserable Lord,
Old Adams sonne, and heire vnto his sins:
And as our father Adam did possesse
The world, there's not a Begger that hath lesse.
For whereof is the world compact and fram'd
But Elements, which to our sence are nam'd,
The Earth, the Ayre, the Water, and the Fire,
With which all liue, without which all expire?
These, euery Begger hath in plenteous store,
And euery mighty Monarch hath no more.
Nor can the greatest Potentate aliue,
The meanest Begger of these things depriue.
The Earth is common, both for birth or Graues,
For Kings, and Beggers, Free-men, and for Slaues:
And a poore Begger as much Ayre will draw,
As he that could keepe all the world in awe,
The Water, be it Riuers, Seas or Spring,
'Tis equall for a Begger as a King.
And the Celestiall Sunn's bright fire, from Heauen
'Mongst all estates most equally is giuen,
Giu'n, not to be ingrost, or bought, nor sold,
For gifts and bribes, or base corrupted gold.
These things nor poore or rich, can sell nor buy,
Free for all liuing creatures, till they dye.
An Emperour, a great command doth beare:
But yet a Begger's more secure from feare.
A King may vse disports (as fits the season)
But yet a Begger is more safe from Treason.
A Prince (amidst his cares) may merry be,
But yet a Begger is from flatt'rers free.
A Duke, is a degree magnificent,
But yet a Begger may haue more content.
A Marquesse is a title of great fame,
A Begger may offend more, with lesse blame.
An Earle, an honourable house may keepe,
But yet a Begger may more soundly sleepe.
A Vizecount may be honour'd and renoun'd,
But yet a Begger's on a surer ground.
A Baron, is a Stile belou'd and Noble,
But yet a Begger is more free from trouble.
A Knight, is good (if his deserts be such)
But yet a Begger may not owe so much.
A good Esquire is worthy of respect,
A Begger's in lesse care, though more neglect.
A Gentleman, may good apparell weare,
A Begger, from the Mercers booke is cleare.
A Seruing-man that's young, in older yeeres
Oft proues an aged Begger, it appeares.
Thus all degrees and states, what e're they are,
With Beggers happinesse cannot compare:
Heau'n is the roofe that Canopies his head,
The Cloudes his Curtaines, and the earth his bed.
The Sunne his fire, the Starre's his candle light,
The Moone his Lampe that guides him in the night.
When scorching Sol makes other mortals sweat,
Each tree doth shade a Begger from his heat:
When nipping Winter makes the Cow to quake,
A Begger will a Barne for harbour take,
When Trees & Steeples are o're-turn'd with winde,
A begger will a hedge for shelter finde:
And though his inconueniences are store,
Yet still he hath a salue for eu'ry sore,
He for new fashions, owes the Taylor nothing,
Nor to the Draper is in debt for cloathing:
96
Others, by breaking like a bankerupt Knaue.
He's free from shoulder-clapping Sergeants clawes,
He's out of feare of Enuies canker'd iawes:
He liues in such a safe and happy state,
That he is neither hated, nor doth hate.
None beares him malice, rancour, or despight,
And he dares kill, those that dare him backe-bite.
Credit he neither hath, or giue to none,
All times and seasons, vnto him are one:
He longs not for, or feare a quarter day,
For Rent he neither doth receiue or pay.
Let Nation against Nation warres denounce,
Let Cannons thunder, and let Musket bounce:
Let armies, armies, force 'gainst force oppose,
He nothing feares, nor nothing hath to lose.
Let Towns and Towres with batt'ry be o're-turn'd,
Let women be deflowr'd and houses burn'd:
Let men fight pell-mell, and lose life and lim,
If earth and skies escape, all's one to him.
O happy begg'ry, euery liberall Art
Hath left the thanklesse world, and takes thy part:
And learning, conscience, and simplicity,
Plaine dealing, and true perfect honesty,
Sweet Poetry, and high Astronomy,
Musickes delightfull heau'nly harmony,
All these (with begg'ry) most assuredly
Haue made a friendly league to liue and dye.
For Fortune hath decreed, and holds it fit,
Not to giue one man conscience, wealth, and wit:
For they are portions which to twaine belong,
And to giue all to one were double wrong,
Therefore although the Goddesse want her eyes,
Yet in her blinded bounty she is wise.
I will not say, but wealth and wisedome are
In one, ten, or in more, but 'tis most rare:
And such men are to be in peace or warres,
Admir'd like blacke Swans, or like blazing Starres.
Two sorts of people fills the whole world full,
The witty Begger, and the wealthy Gull:
A Scholler, stor'd with Arts, with not one crosse,
And Artlesse Nabal stor'd with Indian drosse.
I haue seene learning tatter'd, bare and poore,
Whilst Barbarisme domineerd with store:
I haue knowne knowledge, in but meane regard,
Whil'st ignorance hath rob'd it of reward:
And with Coxcombs, I haue heard dispute,
Whilst profound Iudgements must be dumb and mute.
Apollo with aduice did wisely grant,
That Poets should be poore, and liue in want:
And though plaine Beggers they doe not appeare,
Yet their estates doe shew their kin is neere.
Parnassus Mount is fruitlesse, bare and sterill,
And all the Muses poore in their apparell:
Bare legg'd, and footed, with disheuel'd haire,
Nor Buskins: Shooes, or Head-tires for to weare.
So farre they are from any shew of thrift,
They scarce haue e'r a smock themselues to shift.
Homer that was the Prince of Poetry,
Was a blind Begger, and in pouerty:
And matchlesse Ouid, (in poore wretched case)
Exil'd from Rome to Pontus in disgrace.
And Mantuan Maro , for some space in Rome,
Was to Augustus but a Stable-Groome:
His verses shew he had a learned head,
Yet all his profit was but bread and bread.
A Lowse hath six feet, frō whose creeping sprawl'd
The first Hexameters, that euer crawl'd:
And euer since, in mem'ry of the same,
A Lowse amongst the Learned is no shame.
Then since the Mountaines barren Muses bare,
And Prince of Poets had a Beggers share:
Since their blinde Soueraigne was a Begger poore,
How can the Subiects but be voyd of store?
What are their figures, numbers, types and tropes,
But Emblems of poore shadowes, and vaine hopes?
Their allegories, similies, allusions,
Threed-bare doe end in beggerly conclusions:
Nor can their Comedies, and Tragedies,
Their Comitragy, Tragicomedies,
No pastorall preterplupastorall,
Their Morall studies, and Historicall,
Their sharp Iambick, high Heroick Saphique,
And all wherewith their painefull studies traffique,
All these cannot allow a meanes compleate,
To keepe them out of debt with cloathes & meate.
And though a Poet haue th'accomplish'd partes
Of Learning, and the Axiomes of all Artes:
What though he study all his braines to dust,
To make his Fame immortall, and from rust,
Reuoluing day by day, and night by night,
And waste himselfe in giuing others light,
Yet this is all the Guerdon he shall haue,
That begg'ry will attend him to his graue.
He (in his owne Conceite) may haue this blisse,
And sing, My minde to me a Kingdome is.
But 'tis a Kingdome wanting forme or matter,
Or substance, like the Mooneshine in the water.
For as a learned Poet wrote before,
Grosse Gold runs headlong from them to the Bore:
For which this vnauoyded Vow Ile make,
To loue a Begger for a Poets sake.
I that ne'r dranke of Agganippes Well,
That in Parnassus Suburbes scarce doe dwell,
That neuer tasted the Pegasian Spring,
Or Tempe, nor e're heard the Muses sing,
97
Quite from the purpose, method, or the matter.
Yet some for friendship, Ignorance, or pitty,
Will say my lines may passe, indifferent, pritty:
And for this little, Itching, Versing vaine,
With me the Begger vowes he will remaine.
But if I could but once true Poetry win,
He would sticke close to me, is as my skin.
And sure if any man beneath the Sky,
Had to his Nurse a Witch, it must be I,
For I remember many yeeres agoe,
When I would Cry, as Children vse to doe:
My Nurse to still me, or to make me cease
Frō crying, would say, Hush lambe, pray thee peace.
But I (like many others froward boyes)
Would yawle, & bawle, and make a wawling noyse.
Then she (in anger) in her armes would snatch me,
And bid the Begger, or Bull-begger catch me;
With take him Begger, take him, would she say,
Then did the Begger such hard holdfast lay
Vpon my backe, that yet I neuer could,
Nor euer shall inforce him leaue his hold.
The reason therefore why I am not Rich,
I thinke is, 'cause my Nurse was halfe a witch.
But since it is decreed that I must be
A Begger, welcome begg'ry vnto me:
Ile patiently embrace my destin'd Fate,
And liue as well as some of higher Rate.
Yet shall my begg'ry no strange Suites deuise,
As Monopolies to catch Fleas and Flyes:
Or the Sole making of all Butchers prickes,
Or Corkes for bottles, or for euery fixe
Smelt, Seacrab, Flounder, Playce, or Whiting mop,
One, as a Duty vnto me to drop,
Nor to marke Cheeses, Ile not beg at all,
Nor for the Mouse-trap Geometricall.
Nor will I impudently beg for Land,
Nor (with Ambition) beg to haue Command:
Or meate, or cloathes, or that which few men giue,
Ile neuer beg for money whilst I liue.
Yet money I esteeme a precious thing,
Because it beares the picture of my King:
Vnto my King I will a seruant be,
And make his pictures seruants vnto me,
One onely Begg'ry euer I'le imbrace,
Ile beg for grace, of him that can giue grace,
Who all things feedes and fils, and ouer-seeth,
Who giues,, and casteth no man in the teeth.
So much for that, now to my Theame againe.
What vertues Begg'ry still doth entertaine.
First amongst Beggers, ther's not one in twenty,
But hath the Art of memory most plenty:
When those that are possest with riches store,
(If e'r they were in Beggers state and poore)
They quite forget it, and will euer hate
The memory of any Beggers state.
For fortune, fauour, or benignity,
May rayse a Begger vnto dignity:
When like a bladder, puft with pride and pelfe,
Hee'l neither know his betters, nor himselfe,
But if a Begger hath bin wealthy euer,
He from his minde puts that remembrance neuer.
And thus if it be rightly vnderstood,
A Beggers Memory is euer good.
Nor he by Gluttony, or swinish surfet,
Doth purchase sickenes with his bodies forfeit.
On bonds, or bills, he borrowes not, or lends,
He neither by extortion gets or spends.
No Vsury he neither takes or gines:
Oppresse he cannot, yet opprest he liues.
Nor when he dyes, he leaues no wrangling heyres
To lose by Law that which was his or theirs.
Men that are blinde in Iudgement may see this,
Which of the Rich, or Beggers hath most blisse:
On which most pleasure, Fortune seemes to hurle,
The Lowsie Begger, or the gowty Churle:
The Ragged Begger sitting in the Stocks,
Or the Embrodered Gallant with the Pocks.
A Begger euery way is Adams Son,
For in a Garden Adam first begun:
And so a Begger euen from his birth,
Doth make his Garden the whole entire Earth.
The fields of Corne doth yeeld him straw & bread,
To Feed and Lodge, and Hat to hide his head:
And in the stead of cut-throat slaughtering shābles,
Each hedge allowes him Berryes from the brambles.
The Bullesse, hedg-Peake, Hips, & Hawes, and, Sloes,
Attend his appetite where e'r he goes:
As for his Sallets, better neuer was,
Then acute Sorrell, and sweet three-leau'd Grasse,
And for a Sawce he seldome is at charges,
For euery Crabtree doth affoord him Vergis,
His banket, sometimes is greene Beanes, and Peason,
Nuts, Peares, Plumbes, Apples, as they are in season.
His musicke waytes on him in euery bush,
The Mauis, Bulfinch, Blackbird and the Thrush:
The mounting Larke sings in the lofty Sky,
And Robin-redbrest makes him melody.
The Nightingale chants most melodiously,
The chirping Sparrow, and the chattering Pye.
My neighbour Cuckow, alwayes in one tune,
Sings like a Townesman still in May and Iune.
These feather'd Fidlers sing, and leape, and play,
The Begger takes delight, and God doth pay.
Moreouer (to accomplish his Content)
Ther's nothing wants to please his sight or sent.
The Earth embrodered with the various hew
Of Greene, Red, Yellow, Purple, Watched, Blue:
Carnation, Crimson, Damaske, spotles White,
And euery colour that may please the sight.
The odoriferous Mint, the Eglantine,
The Woodbine, Primerose, and the Cowslip fine,
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The fragrant Time, delights the Begger still.
He may plucke Violets in any place
And Rue, but very seldome hearbe of Grace:
Hearts-ease he hath and Loue and Idle both,
It in his bones hath a continuall growth.
His Drinke he neuer doth goe farre to looke,
Each Spring's his Host, his Hostesse is each Brooke:
Where he may quaffe and to't againe by fits,
And neuer stands in feare to hurt his wits,
For why that Ale, is Grandam Natures brewing,
And very seldome sets her Guests a spewing;
Vnmixt, and vnsophisticated drinke,
That neuer makes men stagger, reele and winke.
Besides, a Begger hath this pleasure more,
He neuer payes, or neuer goes on score:
But let him drinke and quaffe both night and day,
Ther's neither Chalke, nor Post, or ought to pay.
But after all this single-soal'd small Ale,
I thinke it best to tell a merry tale:
That kept a knauish Foole at bed and boord,
(As Great men oft affected haue such Elues,
And lou'd a Foole, as they haue lou'd themselues.)
But Nature to this Foole such vertue gaue,
Two simples in one Compound, Foole and Knaue,
This Noble Lord, ignobly did oppresse
His Tenants, raising Rents to such excesse:
That they their states not able to maintaine,
They turn'd starke Beggers in a yeere or twaine.
Yet though this Lord were too too miserable,
He in his House kept a well furnish'd Table:
Great store of Beggers dayly at his Gate,
Which he did feed, and much Compassionate.
(For 'tis within the power of mighty men,
To make fiue hundred Beggers, and feed Ten.)
At last, vpon a time the Lord and's Foole,
Walk'd after dinner their hot bloods to coole,
And seeing three or fourescore Beggers stand
To seeke reliefe from his hard-clutched hand,
The Nobleman thus spake his Foole vnto,
Quoth he, what shall I with these Beggers doe?
Since (quoth the Foole) you for my Iudgement call,
I thinke it best we straightwayes hang them all.
That were great pitty, then the Lord reply'd,
For them and me our Sauiour equall dy'd:
Th'are Christians (although Beggers) therefore yet
Hanging's vncharitable, and vnfit.
Tush (said the Foole) they are but beggers tho,
And thou canst spare them, therefore let them goe:
If thou wilt doe, as thou hast done before,
Thou canst in one yeere make as many more.
And he that can picke nothing from this tale,
Then let him with the Bergger drinke small Ale.
Thus is a Begger a strange kinde of creature,
And begg'ry is an Art that liues by Nature:
For he neglect all Trades, all Occupations,
All functions, Mysteries, Artes, and Corporations.
Hee's his owne Law, and doth euen what he list,
And is a perfit right Gimnosophist.
A Philosophicall Pythagoras,
That without care his life away doth passe.
A Lawyer must for what he gets take paines,
And study night and day, and toyle his braines,
With diligence to sift out Right from wrong,
Writes, trauels pleads, with hands, & feet, & tong;
And for to end Debate, doth oft debate
With Rhetoricke, and Logicke Intricate:
And after all his trauell and his toyle,
If that part which he pleads for get the foyle,
The Clyent blames the Lawyer, and the Lawes,
And neuer mindes the badnes of his Cause.
Tis better with a Begger that is dumbe,
Whose tongue-lesse mouth doth onely vtter mum:
In study, and in care, no time he spends,
And hath his businesse at his fingers ends.
And with dumbe Rhetoricke, & with Logick mute,
Liues and gaines more, then many that Dispute.
If case a Begger be old, weake or ill,
It makes his gaines, and commings in more still;
When Beggers that are strong, are paid with mocks,
Or threatned with the Cage, the Whip, or Stocks.
Hee's better borne then any Prince or Peere,
In's Mothers wombe three quarters of a yeere:
And when his birth hath made her belly slacke,
Shee foure or fiue yeeres, beares him at her backe
He liues as if it were grim Saturnes Raigne,
Or as the golden age were come againe.
Moreouer many vertues doe attend
On Beggers, and on them doe they depend:
Humility's a Vertue, and they are
In signe of Humblenesse, continuall bare:
And Patience is a vertue of great worth.
Which any begger much expresseth forth,
I saw a Begger Rayl'd at, yet stood mute,
Before a Beadle, of but base repute.
For Fortitude a Begger doth excell,
There's nothing can his valiant courage quell:
Nor heate or cold, thirst, hunger, Famines rage,
He dares out-dare Stocks, whipping-posts, or Cage.
Hee's of the greatest Temperance vnder heauen,
And (for the most part) feeds on what is giuen.
He waytes vpon a Lady, of high price,
Whose birth-place was cœlestiall Paradice.
One of the Graces, a most heauely Dame,
And Charity's her all-admired Name;
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On her the Begger waytes, and gets his liuing,
His State's more ancient then a Gentleman,
It from the Elder brother (Cain) began:
Of Runagates and vagabonds he was
The first that wandring o're the earth did passe.
But what's a Vagabond and a Runagate?
True Anagramatiz'd I will relate:
Rvnagate, Anagram, A Gravnte. Vagabonde, Anagram. Gave a Bond.
And many well-borne Gallants, mad and fond,Haue with a Graunt so often Gaue a Bond,
And wrap'd their states so in a Parchment skin,
They Vagabonds and Runagates haue bin.
A Begger's nob'ly borne, all men will yeeld,
His getting and his birth b'ing in the field:
And all the world knowes 'tis no idle fable,
To say and sweare the field is honourable.
A Begger is most courteous when he begges,
And hath an excellent skill in making legges,
But if he could make Armes but halfe so well,
For Herauldry his cunning would excell.
A Begger in great safety doth remaine,
He's out of danger to be rob'd or slaine:
In feare and perill he is neuer put,
And (for his wealth) no thiefe his throat will cut.
He's farre more bountifull then is a Lord,
A world of hangers on at bed and boord:
Which he doth lodge, and daily cloath and feed
Them and their Issue, that encrease and breed;
For 'tis disparagement, and open wrong,
To say a Begger's not a thousand strong:
Yet haue I seene a Begger with his Many,
Come at a Play-house, all in for one penny.
And though of creatures Lice are almost least,
Yet is a Lowse a very valiant beast.
But did not strength vnto her courage want,
She would kill Lyon, Beare, or Elephant.
What is it that she can, but she dares do?
She'le combate with a King, and stand to't too:
She's not a starter like the dust-bred-Flea,
She's a great traueller by land and sea,
And dares take any Lady by the Rea.
She neuer from a battell yet did flye,
For with a Souldier she will liue and dye.
And sure (I thinke) I said not much amis,
To say a Lowse her selfe a Souldier is.
An Hoast of Lice did to submission bring
Hard-hearted Pharaoh the Egyptian King,
But when these cruell creatures doe want meate,
Mans flesh and blood like Canibals they eate.
They are vnto the Begger, Natures gifts,
Who very seldome puts them to their shifts,
These are his Guard, which will not him forsake,
Till Death, a coarse doth of his carkasse make.
A Begger liues here in this vale of sorrow,
And trauels here to day, and there to morrow.
The next day being neither here, nor there:
But almost no where, and yet euery where.
He neuer labours, yet he doth expresse
Himselfe an enemie to Idlenesse.
In Court, Campe, City, Countrey, in the Ocean,
A Begger is a right perpetuall motion,
His great deuotion is in generall,
He either prayes for all, or preyes on all.
And it is vniuersally profest,
From South to North, from East vnto the West.
On his owne merits he will not relie;
By other mens good works he'le liue and die.
That begg'ry is nat'rall all men know,
Our naked comming to the world doth show:
Not worth a simple rotten ragge, or clout,
Our silly carkasses to wrap about.
That its will is, and hath perpetuall bin,
All goes as naked out, as they came in,
We leaue our cloathes, which were our couers here,
For Beggers that come after vs to weare.
Thus all the world in generall Beggers are,
And all alike come in, and goe out bare.
And whoso liues here in the best degree,
Must (euery day) a daily Begger bee:
And when his life hath run vnto his date,
He dies a Begger or a Reprobate.
(Good Reader, pray misconster not this case,
I meane no profanation in this place)
Then since these vertues waite on beggery,
As milde Humility, and Charity,
And Temp'rance, Honour, Health, Frugality,
With Patience, Fortitude, and Courtesie,
Security, Uniuersality,
Necessity and Perpetuitie,
And since heau'n sends the Subiect and the Prince
All Beggers hither, and no better hence,
Since begg'ry is our portion and our lot,
Our Patrimony, birth-right, and what not?
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That (which by nature) we were borne vnto.
And whil'st my Muse a little doth repose,
I'le Character a Begger out in prose.
Beggery descended from Cain, who was the first man that euer was borne, and heire apparant to the whole world.
If these elements could bee bought and solde, the poore Beggers should haue small roome for birth, life, or buriall.
Virgill, he was borne in a ditch, and afterward being in Rome in seruice with Augustus Cesar, to whom he manytimes gaue learned verses, & the Emperour alwayes rewarded him with bread.
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[Inuention many thousand wayes could go]
[_]
In this poem footnotes are anchored in the text. Where anchors and footnotes do not correspond, no attempt has been made to match them.
To shew their variations to and fro:
For as vpon the soule of man attends,
The world, the flesh, the deuil, (three wicked friēds)
So likewise hath a Begger other three,
With whom his humour neuer could agree.
A Iustice to the world he doth compare,
And for his flesh, a Beadle is a snare:
But he, that he of all accounts most euill,
He thinks a Constable to be the Deuill.
And 'tis as easie for him as to drinke,
To blind the world, and make a Iustice winke;
The Beadle (for the flesh) 'tis little paine,
Which smart he can recouer soone againe.
But yet the Deuils (the Constable) a spirit,
From hole to hole that hunts him like a ferrit,
Both day and night he haunts him as a ghost,
And of all furies he torments him most.
All 's one for that, though some things fall out ill,
A Begger seldome rides vp Holborne hill:
Nor is he taken with a theeuish trap,
And made dispute with Doctor Stories cap.
A common theefe, for euery groat he gaines,
His life doth venture, besides all his paines:
For euery thing he eates, or drinkes, or weares,
To lose his cares, or gaine a rope he seares.
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They are from all these choaking dangers free.
And though (for sinne) when mankind first began,
A curse was laid on all the race of man,
That of his labours he should liue and eate,
And get his bread by trauell and by sweate:
But if that any from this curse be free,
A Begger must he be, and none but he.
For euery foole most certainely doth know,
A Begger doth not dig, delue, plow, or sow:
He neither harrowes, plants, lops, fells, nor rakes,
Nor any way he paines, or labour takes.
Let swine be meazeld, let sheepe die and rot,
Let moraine kill the cattell, he cares not:
He will not worke and sweat, and yet hee'l feed,
And each mans labour must supply his need.
Thus without paines or care, his life hee'l spend,
And liues vntill he dies, and ther's an end.
But I this reckning of beggry make,
That it much better is to giue then take:
Yet if my substance will not serue to giue,
Ile (of my betters) take, with thankes, and liue.
FINIS.
A Iustice of Peace is as the world to a Begger, a Beadle as the flesh, and a Constable as the Deuill.
| All the workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-Poet | |