THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC HERARY

Come, All Ye Brisk Young Batchelors

NOME, all ye brisk young batchelors,

C

That wish to have good wives;

I'd have you be precautious,

How you spend your lives.

For women are as various,

As the fish are in the sea;

They're ten times more precarious,
Than a winter or summer's day!

When you first begin to court them,
They're as mild as any dove,

And you will think them

Full worthy of your love;

But when you do get married,

The case is altered then;

For you will find, my friend,

They can let loose their tongues!

Now Aristotle chose

A most commodious wife,
As ever was in this land, Sir,
A partner for his life;

But soon he found out

That 'twas all a hum.

You must not stay to pick them,

But take them as they come!

Blank or prize 'tis all a chance,

Shut your eyes and then advance!
Which e'er you touch be pleased at once,
For you must pay, let who will dance.

There was a victim in a cart,

One day for to be hung;

And his reprieve was granted,

And the cart was made to stand:

"Come marry a wife and save your life!"
The judge aloud did cry.

"Oh why should I corrupt my life?"
The victim did reply;

"For here's a crowd of every sort,

And why should I prevent the sport?
The bargain's bad in every part—

The wife's the worst; drive on the cart!"

TH

HERE was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, And they all liv'd together in a little crooked house.

L

ITTLE blue Betty lived in a den,

She sold good ale to gentlemen:
Gentlemen came every day,

And little blue Betty hopp'd away.

She hopp'd upstairs to make her bed,

And she tumbled down and broke her head.