Nursery Rhyme. XCVI. Proverbs.

        [One version of the following song, which I believe to be the genuine one, is written on the last leaf of MS. Harl. 6580, between the lines of a fragment of an old charter, originally used for binding the book, in a hand of the end of the seventeenth century, but unfortunately it is scarcely adapted for the "ears polite" of modern days.]

    A man of words and not of deeds,
    Is like a garden full of weeds;
    And when the weeds begin to grow,
    It's like a garden full of snow;
    And when the snow begins to fall,
    It's like a bird upon the wall;
    And when the bird away does fly,
    It's like an eagle in the sky;
    And when the sky begins to roar,
    It's like a lion at the door;
    And when the door begins to crack,
    It's like a stick across you...

    See a pin and pick it up,
    All the day you'll have good luck;
    See a pin and let it lay,
    Bad luck you'll have all the day!

    A man of words and not of deeds,
    Is like a garden full of weeds;
    For when the weeds begin to grow,
    Then doth the garden overflow.

    For every evil under the sun,
    There is a remedy, or there is none.
    If there be one, try and find it;
    If there be none, never mind it.

    As I was going up Pippen-hill,
        Pippen-hill was dirty,
    There I met a pretty miss,
        And she dropt me a curtsey.

    Little miss, pretty miss,
        Blessings light upon you!
    If I had half-a-crown a day,
        I'd spend it all on you.

    There was a little maid, and she was afraid,
    That her sweetheart would come unto her;
    So she went to bed, and cover'd up her head
    And fasten'd the door with a skewer.