4
So that they might live by the sweat of their brow;
But these you rejected, and why not this too?
But because ye're determin’d the poor to suppress,
And the wealth of the Landholder still to increase,
Such partial proceedings I ne'er knew before,
I pray you desist from what all does abhor.
What tho' the Landholders did pay ten per cent,
If they on the farmers did lay double rent,
Their income was greater than when they paid none,
And all came upon the poor tradesman alone.
For the farmers did treeble the price of their cheese,
Their eggs and their butter, their beans and their pease,
And so from their shoulders the burden did cast,
And all came upon the poor tradesmen at last.
A certain great courtier a traitor became,
And ruined his country for the love of gain;
O plague come upon him and all that he has,
Because he deserted the poor tradesman's cause.
And faulsely reported the minds of the place
