The unsuspecting often meet deceit,
By fawning wretches that would kiss their feet;
Such is the case, that man to man you’ll see,
Would for a shilling a curs’d traitor be.
Too well I know by sad experience bought,
Man have by artful means my ruin sought;
And would have plung’d me in extreme distress,
To gain their aims, or make their troubles less.
Mankind sometimes will act a knavish part,
And unexpected use deceit and art.
The world is grown so fond of getting cash,
That for its sake they’ll do what’s base or rash:
Will make him drunk to gain a neighbour’s wife,
Forge a last will, or take away his life:
A rape commit and laws avenge defy,
Flog a poor boy, or tell a flagrant lye:
Oft have I seen a poor and friendless child,
Flog’d near to death and made by torments wild;
For faults so small that blame you cou’d not see,
Nor cou’d his Master mention them to me;
When I the monster did upbraid, he swore
Another time he’d give him ten times more.
Scenes such as these too often do appear,
And pity ’tis some punishments severe,
Was not inflicted on the sordid elf,
Either by hanging, or the loss of wealth.