Text divider from 'The Humble Beggar', a chapbook printed in Glasgow in 1802
THE TERRIBLE LAW.
The terrible lay when it fastens its paw, on a poor man, it grips him till he's undone; And what I am doing may prove to my ruin, tho' rich as the Lord Mayor of London. Therefore I'll be wary what message I carry, unless we first make a sure zure bargain: I will be demonified, thorowly satisfied, that ch'an shan't zuffer a varding.