THE BABES IN THE WOOD.
Now ponder well, you parents dear,
The words which I shall write;
A doleful story you shall hear,
In time brought forth to light.
A gentleman of good account
In Norfolk liv'd of late,
Whose wealth and riches did surmount
Most men of his estate.
Sore sick he was, and like to die;
No help that he could have;
His wife by him as sick did lie,
And both possess'd one grave.
No love between these two was lost,
Each was to other kind;
In love they liv'd, in love they died,
And left two babes behind.
The one a fine and pretty boy,
Not passing three years old;
The other, a girl more young than he,
And made in beauty's mould.
The father left his little son,
As plainly doth appear,
When he to perfeet age should conte,
Three hundred pounds a-year.
