CHAP. XXI. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 33$ 



Command bare heads, bow'd knees ; strike justice, dumb, 



As well as blind and lame ; or, give a tongue 



To stones, by epitaphs, be call'd " great master/' 



In the loose rhimes of every poetaster ? 



Could I be more than any man that lives, 



Great ; fair ; rich ; vise ; all, in superlatives : 



Yet I, more freely, would these gifts resign, 



Than, ever, fortune would have made them mine : 



And, hold one minute of this holy leisure, 



Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure. 



The contest; and its issue; are related in the following stanzas, part of 

 the ballad. 



Thsn spake the blind beggar : <c Although I be poore, 

 ' Yett rayle not against my child at my own door : 

 Though shee be not decked in velvet and pearle, 

 " Yett 1 will dropp angtlls with you for_my girle. 



<{ And then, if my gold may better her birthe, 

 " And equall the gold that you lay on the earth ; 

 41 Then neyther rayle, nor grudge, you ! to see 

 a The blind beggar'* daughter a lady to bee. 



** But, first, you shall promise, and have itt well knowne, 

 ** The gold that you drop shall all be your owne." 

 With that they replyed : * Contented bee wee.* 

 " Then here's" (quoth the beggar), for prettye Bessee." 



With that, an angell he cast on the ground : 



And dropped, in angells, full three thousand pound ; 



And, oftentimes, (it was proved most plain,) 



For the gentleman's one, the beggar dropt twayne : 



Soe that the place wherein they did site, 



With gold it was covered, every whitt. 



The gentlemen, then, having dropt all their store, 



Sayd : Now, beggar ! hold ; for ive hare no more :' 



c Thou hast fulfilled thy promise aright.' 



" Then marry my girl," quoth he to the knight ; 



" And, here," added he, " I will, now, throwe you downe 



" A hundred pounds more to buy her a gowne." 



The neighbourhood of Bethnal-Green, is seldom without a public- 

 houte with a sign representing The Beggar, and tht Dissuadcrs of tbt match, 

 dropping gold : the Young-Woman^ and tbc linigbt her Iwcr, standin 

 tbtm. 



