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Though some churls at our mirth repine,
Round your foreheads garlands twine,
Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,

And let us all be merry.

Now all our neighbours' chimneys smoke,
And Christmas blocks are burning;

Their ovens they with baked meat choke,
And all their spits are turning.
Without the door let sorrow lie;
And if for cold it hap to die,

We'll bury't in a Christmas pie,
And evermore be merry.

Now every lad is wondrous trim,

And no man minds his labour;

Our lasses have provided them

A bagpipe and a tabor;

Young men and maids, and girls and boys,

Give life to one another's joys;

And you anon shall by their noise

Perceive that they are merry.

Rank misers now do sparing shun;

Their hall of music soundeth;

And dogs thence with whole shoulders run, So all things there aboundeth.

The country folks themselves advance,

With crowdy-muttons out of France;

And Jack shall pipe and Gill shall dance,

And all the town be merry.

Ned Squash hath fetcht his bands from pawn,

And all his best apparel;

Brisk Nell hath bought a ruff of lawn

With dropping off the barrel.

And those that hardly all the year

Had bread to eat, or rags to wear,

Will have both clothes and dainty fare,
And all the day be merry.

Now poor men to the justices

With capons make their errants;

And if they hap to fail of these,

They plague them with their warrants : But now they feed them with good cheer, And what they want they take in beer, For Christmas comes but once a year, And then they shall be merry.

Good farmers in the country nurse

The poor, that else were undone ; Some landlords spend their money worse On lust and pride at London.

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With a good old fashion, when Christmas was come,
To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum,
With good cheer enough to furnish every old room,
And old liquor able to make a cat speak, and man dumb;
Like an old courtier, &c.

With an old falconer, huntsmen, and a kennel of hounds,
That never hawk'd, nor hunted, but in his own grounds;
Who, like a wise man, kept himself within his own bounds,
And when he died, gave every child a thousand good pounds ;
Like an old courtier, &c.

But to his eldest son his house and lands he assign'd,
Charging him in his will to keep the old bountiful mind,

To be good to his old tenants, and to his neighbours be kind :
But in the ensuing ditty you shall hear how he was inclined;
Like a young courtier of the king's,

And the king's young courtier.

Like a flourishing young gallant, newly come to his land,
Who keeps a brace of painted madams at his command,
And takes up a thousand pounds upon his father's land,
And gets drunk in a tavern till he can neither go nor stand:
Like a young courtier, &c.

With a newfangled lady, that is dainty, nice, and spare,
Who never knew what belong'd to good housekeeping or care,
Who buys gaudy-colour'd fans to play with wanton air,
And seven or eight different dressings of other women's hair :

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new-fashion'd hall, built where the old one stood,
Hung round with new pictures that do the poor no good,

With a fine marble chimney, wherein burns neither coal nor wood,
And a new smooth shovel board, whereon no victuals e'er stood:

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new study, stuff'd full of pamphlets and plays,

And a new chaplain, that swears faster than he prays,

With a new buttery hatch, that opens once in four or five days, And a new French cook, to devise fine kickshaws and toys:

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on,

On a new journey to London straight we all must begone,
And leave none to keep house, but our new porter John,

Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone;

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new gentleman usher, whose carriage is complete,

With a new coachman, footmen, and pages to carry up the meat, With a waiting gentlewoman, whose dressing is very neat,

Who, when her lady has dined, lets the servants not eat;

Like a young courtier, &c.

With new titles of honour, bought with his father's old gold,
For which sundry of his ancestors' old manors are sold;
And this is the course most of our new gallants hold,
Which makes that good housekeeping is now grown so cold
Among the young courtiers of the king,

Or the king's young courtiers.

BB

TIME'S ALTERATION.

ANONYMOUS.

WHEN this old cap was new,

'Tis since two hundred years;

No malice then we knew,

But all things plenty were: All friendship now decays

(Believe me this is true); Which was not in those days, When this old cap was new.

The nobles of our land

Were much delighted then,

To have at their command

A crew of lusty men,

Who by their coats were known,

Of tawny, red, or blue,

With crests on their sleeves shown,

When this old cap was new.

Now pride hath banish'd all,

Unto our land's reproach,

When he whose means is small

Maintains both horse and coach:

Instead of a hundred men,

The coach allows but two;

This was not thought on then,

When this old cap was new.

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