he times be pinchen me, so well as you,
But I can't tell what ever they can do.

TOM.

Why meaeke the farmers gi'e their leaebouren men
Mwore wages,--half or twice so much ageaen
As what they got.

JOHN.

But, Thomas, you can't meaeke
A man pay mwore away than he can teaeke.
If you do meaeke en gi'e, to till a vield,
So much ageaen as what the groun' do yield,
He'll shut out farmen--or he'll be a goose--
An' goo an' put his money out to use.
Wages be low because the hands be plenty;
They mid be higher if the hands wer skenty.
Leaebour, the seaeme's the produce o' the yield,
Do zell at market price--jist what 'till yield.
Thou wouldsten gi'e a zixpence, I do guess,
Vor zix fresh aggs, if zix did zell for less.
If theaesem vo'k could come an' meaeke mwore lands,
If they could teaeke wold England in their hands
An' stratch it out jist twice so big ageaen,
They'd be a-doen some'hat vor us then.

TOM.

But if they wer a-zent to Parli'ment
To meaeke the laws, dost know, as I've a-zaid,
They'd knock the corn-laws on the head;
An' then the landlards must let down their rent,
An' we should very soon have cheaper bread:
Farmers would gi'e less money vor their lands.

JOHN.

Aye, zoo they mid, an' prices mid be low'r
Vor what their land would yield; an' zoo their hands
Would be jist where they wer avore.
An' if theaese men wer all to hold together,
They coulden meaeke new laws to change the weather!
They ben't so mighty as to think o' frightenen
The vrost an' rain, the thunder an' the lightenen!
An' as vor me, I don't know what to think
O' them there fine, big-talken, cunnen,
Strange men, a-comen down vrom Lon'on.
Why they don't stint theirzelves, but eat an' drink
The best at public-house where they do stay;
They don't work gratis, they do get their pay.
They woulden pinch theirzelves to do us good,
Nor gi'e their money vor to buy us food.
D'ye think, if we should meet em in the street
Zome day in Lon'on, they would stand a treat?

TOM.

They be a-paid, because they be a-zent
By corn-law vo'k that be the poor man's friends,
To tell us all how we mid gain our ends,
A-zenden peaepers up to Parli'ment.

JOHN.

Ah! teaeke ceaere how dost trust em. Dost thou know
The funny feaeble o' the pig an' crow?
Woone time a crow begun to strut an' hop
About some groun' that men'd a-been