Sketches in Verse respectfully addressed to the Norfolk Yeomenry

Excerpt

At one o’clock the busy seen begin,
Quick to the hall they all are posting in;
The cautious merchant takes his stand,
The farmer shows the product of his land:
If wheat the merchant says it’s damp or cold,
If Dawling Market, that’s the case I’m told.
If it is barley he’ll your mind unhinge,
And say good Sir it has a gloomy dinge;
Reduce three shillings of the currant price,
And with the farmer he’ll be very nice;
If oats you offer he’ll bid very low,
Say they are light the moment you them show;
If beans then say this sample’s very soft,
And in his purchase he will keep aloft;
Show him a sample of good Brank or Rye,
He’ll bid you low and look extremely shy:
This is the case if Mark Lane’s very dull,
And all his granaries are very full.
Yet if the market keep upon the rise,
Tho’ bad your sample that he’ll not despise,
Purchase as much as he can gain that day,
Or from his net proceeds afford to pay;
’Tant always markets make a merchant dull,
It is the banker on him has a pull;
That often gives despair or cause a gloom,
He fears an order to the sweating room.
I’ve known that happen on a market day,
Then from the mart he’s forc’d to keep away,
Sometimes G. R. locks up the malt house door,
From an extent and makes him sad and poor;
A country house and a new fashioned gig,
He keeps to make him look at markets big;
Soon as demands upon him loudly call,
He say to day I shant attend the hall:
The clerk announce his master is unwell,
Yet purchase all you are inclined to sell;
And when for payment you may on him call,
Leaves Norwich mart and can’t be found at all;
And when a stoppage happens farmers quake,
Then cry who’d thought that such a man would break;
To take off merchants I am quite unwilling,
At first set off, some are not worth a shilling;
A loss at sea they cannot long withstand,
Can’t call their own an acre of good land;
Yet I protest, pace all our city round,
I don’t know one that is not just and sound;
They deal with honour and are men of trade,
Keep up their payments and disdain parade;
At times a farmer often do complain,
If now and then they do refuse his grain;
Sometimes he sells a sample of hard beans,
On market days and after sends his teams;
The merchant do the article refuse,
For in the sacks much softer grain he views;
The reason’s plain he can’t the bulk admire,
The sample was improved from a large fire;
Soon as he comes to where he do set up,
Of London Porter oft he takes a sup;
The sample in his pocket, there he’ll stay
By a good fire and chat two hours away;
Of altering samples he pays no regard,
But such a conduct makes the sample hard;
Then he complains if a reduction’s made,
That he’s in fault you cannot him persuade;
Friction will much improve most sorts of grain,
You on this subject no longer i’ll detain.

On Mr. L---

Taking leave of his Wife and Children, who was Sentenced to Transportation for Fourteen Years.

from life.

Hannah farewell I’m bound to go,
To taste the bitter draught of woe;
And as I view that starting tear,
It drives and sinks me to despair;
And now I take a last farewell,
The grief I feel no one can tell;
Two lovely children claims my care,
I’m forc’d to clothe them with despair;
As sorrow only on them press,
They are doomed to wear no other dress;
We little thought some former years,
In such a place to shed our tears;
There’s only one our tears can dry,
It is the God like Deity.
And he can all our griefs expel,
Altho’ I bid this last farewell;
These fetters he can quick undo,
And send me back to live with you;
May hope with all its balmy power,
Sooth Hannah in each trying hour,
Friendship I fear will from you flee,
Ere I am riding on the sea;
For the rich will close the door,
’Gainst those misfortune maketh poor;
And even in a lucky day,
The’ll from the brightest object stray;
And those I’ve injured will descry,
Your falling state and destiny;
The G---’s are good and often kind,
To those where troubles press the mind.
I hope when I am gone from view,
Kind friendship they will show to you;
Great confidence they placed in me,
Till lured by worldly gaiety;
Suspicion on me hurl’d its dart,
Forc’d on a sudden to depart,
From Children Home and Hannah too,
Disgraced I fled from public view;
But justice has a piercing eye,
Her runners quick did me espy;
Most fairly tried tho’ guilty found,
Calmly I heard the dreadful sound;
That ushered to my anxious heart,
That I from Hannah must depart;
For fourteen years ere I shall see
My troubles o’er and liberty;
To God my fate and life I trust,
What he ordains I know is just;
Whene’er a man from honour stray,
By vice he’s easy led away;
To every wicked artful plan,
That soon entraps the falling man;
And what increase foreboding tears,
My little ones are come of years;
When they demand a father’s aid
Methinks I hear it justly said,
I ought that thought before possess,
Ere I my wife and them distress;
Extravagance have been the cause;
That made me act against the laws;
And you that dress in rich attire,
And only flippant things admire;
Extravagance will oft too late,
Cause you to mourn a culprits fate.
The name of felon oft I hear,
That very name increase despair;
And as I now my fetters view,
I dread what shortly will ensue;
Methinks I hear the goaler say,
This day from her you go away;
From Britons happy peaceful shore,
My wife and home to see no more;
Till fourteen years are roll’d away,
I shall not see a happy day;
Oh should that happy time return,
Then will my heart with rapture burn;
At such a time my wife to view,
Would every care of life subdue;
My children to my arms I’d press,
And never more cause their distress;
Hope gently wispers to my heart,
That ere I long from you depart,
Those I have injured will obtain
A mandate to unloose the chain;
And as they view your wretched state,
They’ll mourn an absent father’s fate....