The Works of Sir John Suckling in prose and verse/A Pedlar of Small-wares

by John Suckling

A PEDLAR OF SMALL-WARES

A pedlar I am, that take great care
And mickle pains for to sell small-ware:
I had need do so, when women do buy,
That in small wares trade so unwillingly.

L. W.

A looking-glass, will 't please you, madam, buy?5

A rare one 'tis indeed, for in it I
Can shew what all the world besides can't do,
A face like to your own, so fair, so true.

L. E.

For you a girdle, madam; but I doubt me

Nature hath order'd there's no waist about ye:10
Pray, therefore, be but pleas'd to search my pack,
There's no ware that I have that you shall lack.

L. E.⁠L. M.

You, ladies, want you pins? if that you do,

I have those will enter, and that stiffly too:
It's time you choose, in troth; you will bemoan15
Too late your tarrying, when my pack's once gone.

L. B.⁠L. A.

As for you, ladies, there are those behind

Whose ware perchance may better take your mind:
One cannot please ye all; the pedlar will draw back,
And wish against himself that you may have the knack.20