20
money to purchase for him, until he had
got about thirty pounds of her money and
then she would delay the marriage no
longer. Tom then took the old woman
and girl aside, and made the following
apology. Madam, said he, I am very
willing to wed with my dear Polly, for
she appears as an angel in my eyes, but
I am sorry, very sorry to acquaint you
that I am not a fit match for her. What
child, says the old woman, there is not
a fitter match in the whole world for my
Polly, I did not think your country coulg
afford such a clever youth, as what I hear
of you to be, you shall neither want gold
nor silver, nor a good horse to ride upon
and when I die, you shall have my all.
O but, says Tom, Madam, that's not
the thing, the stop is this; When I was
in Scotland, I got a stroke from a hor-
se's foot, on the bottom of the belly,
which has quite disabled me below, that
I cannot perform a husband's duty in bed.
Then the old woman clapt her hands and
fell a crying, O! if it had been any im-
pediment but that, but that, but that wo
fu' that! which gold and silver cannot pur-
chase, and yet the poorest people, that is
common beggars, have plenty of it.
The old wife & her daughter sat crying
and wringing their hands, and Tom stood
