Page:Pleasant history of Poor Robin, the merry sadler of Walden.pdf/2

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THE PLEASANT

HISTORY

OF

POOR ROBIN.

CHAP. I.

The Birth of Poor Robin, how he was bound Apprentice to a Saddler, and what a trick he served his Master.

POOR Robin was born in Saffron-Walden, in the County of Essex, of honest plain parents who brought him up not as our nice dames do now-a-days, by directing him how much he should eat, but as the fashion was then, full fed with gross meats; so that in a few years he grew a sturdy lad; and, considering his growth and manners, a man might well say better fed than taught. His father being willing he should be able to live in