Misc Traditional – Packingtons Pound (Guitar)

    Am            E                Am           G  
My masters, and friends, and good people, draw near,

     C            G          Am    E  Am
And look to your purses for that I do say;

     Am            E       Am          G  
And though little mony in them you do bear,

     C            G           Am     E  Am
It costs more to get than to lose in a day;

    Em   
You oft have been told, both the young and the old,

      C       G                  Am           E  
Then, if you take heed not, free me from the curse,

     C             G           Am      E   Am
Who both give you warning for and the cut-purse.

        C               G           Am             E  
Youth, youth you hadst better been starv'd by thy nurse,

      C          G          Am     E   Am
Than live to be hang'd for cutting as purse.

    Am           E        Am          G  
It hath been upbraided to men of my trade,

      C            G        Am       E    Am
That oftentimes we are the cause of this crime.

  Am           E      Am               G  
Alack and for pitty! why should it be said,

   C         G          Am    E   Am
As if they regarded or places or time?

  Em   
Examples have been of those that were seen

      C              G          Am            E  
Then why should the judges be free from this curse

 C            G                 Am     E  Am
More than my poor self is, for cutting a purse?

      C              G          Am            E  
Then why should the judges be free from this curse

 C            G                 Am     E  Am
More than my poor self is, for cutting a purse?

    Am            E             Am            G  
At Worster, 'tis known well that even in the jale,

   C              G           Am         E   Am
A knight of good worship did there shew his face.

  Am              E          Am           G  
Against the foul sinners in zeale for to raile,

    C              G          Am       E   Am
And so lost, ipso facto, his purse in the place:

     Em  
Nay, once from the seat of judgement so great,

     C             G        Am         E  
Oh Lord! for thy mercy how wicked, or worse,

     C             G             Am       E  Am
Are those that so venture their necks for a purse!

     C             G        Am         E  
Oh Lord! for thy mercy how wicked, or worse,

     C             G             Am       E  Am
Are those that so venture their necks for a purse!

    Am            E          Am        G  
At playes and at sermons and at the Sessions,

      C           G             Am   E  Am
'Tis daily their practice such booty to make;

     Am        E          Am     G  
Yea under the gallows, at executions,

       C            G            Am     E  Am
They stick not the stare-abouts' purses to take;

     Em 
Nay, one without grace, at a better place,

  C             G          Am          E  
Alack then for pitty! must I bear the curse,

      C      G            Am      E   Am
That only belongs to the cunning Cut-purse?

        C               G           Am             E  
Youth, youth you hadst better been starv'd by thy nurse,

      C          G          Am     E   Am
Than live to be hang'd for cutting as purse.

    Am            E        Am         G  
But oh, you vile nation of Cut-purses all!

   C          G         Am        E   Am
Relent and repent, and amend, and be sound,

     Am            E            Am           G  
And know that you ought not by honest men's fall

   C              G          Am    E     Am
Advance your own fortunes to dye above ground:

     Em 
And though you go gay in silks, as you may,

   C            G             Am         E  
Repent then, repent you, for better for worse,

     C            G           Am     E  Am
And kiss not the gallows for cutting a purse.

        C               G           Am             E  
Youth, youth you hadst better been starv'd by thy nurse,

      C          G          Am     E   Am
Than live to be hang'd for cutting as purse.

     Am          E           Am          G  
The players doe tell you in Bartholemew Faire

      C         G             Am     E   Am
What secret consumptions and rascels you are;

    Am           E           Am             G  
For one of their actors, it seems, had the fate,

    C           G           Am     E   Am
By some of you trade to be fleeced of late:

     Em 
Then fall to your prayers, you that are way-layers!

    C           G           Am       E  
For he hath the art, and no man the worse,

       C           G          Am   E     Am
Whose cunning can pilfer the pilferer's purse.

    C           G           Am       E   
For he hath the art, and no man the worse,

       C           G          Am   E     Am
Whose cunning can pilfer the pilferer's purse.

     Am           E              Am         G  
The plain countryman that comes staring to London,

   C              G           Am        E  Am
If once you come near him he quickly is undone;

    Am        E      Am       G  
For when he amazedly gazeth about,

      C            G            Am     E     Am
One treads on his toes, and the other puls't out;

     Em 
Then in a strange place, where he knows no face,

     C        G           Am           E  
The divel of hell in his trade is not worse

      C          G           Am    E   Am
Than gilter, and diver, and cutter of purse.

     C        G           Am           E 
The divel of hell in his trade is not worse

      C          G           Am    E   Am
Than gilter, and diver, and cutter of purse.

     Am           E             Am            G  
The poor servant maid wears her purse in her placket,

   C              G           Am       E   Am
A place of quick feeling, and yet you can take it;

    Am       E            Am             G  
Nor is she aware that you have done the feat,

   C           G        Am      E   Am
Untill she is going to pay for her meat;

     Em 
Then she cryes and she rages amongst her baggages,

     C        G        Am         E  
For she is ingaged her own to disburse,

     C             G            Am    E   Am
To make good the breach of the cruel Cut-purse.

     C        G        Am         E 
For she is ingaged her own to disburse,

     C             G            Am    E   Am
To make good the breach of the cruel Cut-purse.

     Am             E          Am          G  
Your eyes and your fingers are nimble of growth,

     C        G               Am       E   Am
But Dun many times hath been nimbler than both;

    Am         E        Am       G  
Yet you are deceived by many a slut,

         C         G        Am   E     Am
But the hangman is only the Cut-purses cut.

   Em 
It makes you to vex when he bridles your necks,

      C              G           Am         E  
But when you should pray, you begin for to curse

     C                G           Am   E   Am
The hand that first shewd you to slash at purse.

      C              G           Am         E   
But when you should pray, you begin for to curse

     C                G           Am   E   Am
The hand that first shewd you to slash at purse.

    Am         E            Am        G  
But now to my hearers this counsel I give,

     C                G            Am      E  Am
And pray, friends, remember it as long as you live,

      Am           E             Am         G  
Bring out no more cash in purse, pocket or wallet,

      C          G       Am       E   Am
Than one single penny to pay for the ballet;

     Em 
For Cut-purse doth shrowd himself in a cloud,

     C             G               Am            E  
For he's the most rouge that doth crowd up, and curses,

     C                G         Am       E    Am
Who first cryes, "My masters, beware of your purses!"

        C               G           Am             E  
Youth, youth you hadst better been starv'd by thy nurse,

      C          G          Am     E   Am
Than live to be hang'd for cutting at purse.