On his endeavouring to give the authorship the go-by, the old dame protested, "D'ye think, sir, I dinna ken my ain groats in ither folk's kail?" A conceited packman called at a farm-house in the west of Scotland, in order to dispose of some of his wares.

THE OLD MAN There was an old man In a velvet coat, He kissed a maid And gave her a groat.

But I know better than to grieve; If I have none I will not thieve; I'll be content whate'er's my lot, Nor for misfortunes care a groat.

" From Shirley we learn that the apprentices took their pleasure in the mild form of treating their sweethearts to cream and prunes: "You have some festivals, I confess, but when They happen, you run wild to the next village, Conspire a knot and club your groats apiece For cream and prunes, not daring to be drunk.

A curious fowl and sparagrass I chose; (For I remember you were fond of those:) Three shillings cost the first, the last sev'n groats; Sullen you turn from both, and call for OATS:' He laughed, and asked in whose name I would write it.

Nay, not all, some sing another note; My mother will say no, I hold a groat.

After a family quarrel, Mr. Mountjoy declared that he would never leave Stephen and Mary a groat, and the son-in-law brought suit for a dowry.

This dowager, on whom my tale I found, Since last she laid her husband in the ground, A simple sober life, in patience, led, And had but just enough to buy her bread: But huswifing the little Heaven had lent, She duly paid a groat for quarter rent; 10 And pinch'd her belly, with her daughters two, To bring the year about with much ado.

The second, that was a chestnut man, Out of his bundle draws a bone: "Lo, by the belfry of St. Ann, And all my breakfast gone!" The third, that was a yellow man, Out of his bundle picks a groat, "La, by the Angel of St. Ann, And I must go without.

He was promised a groat if he would see Phineas safely home when the rain had ceased, and was asked if he would care to take the piece of silver now.

Cf. a similar passage in Glapthorne's Wit in a Constable (Works, I. 182): "a limber fellow, Fit onely for deare Nan, his schoole-fellow, A Grocer's daughter borne in Bread-street, with Whom he has used to goe to Pimblico And spend ten groats in cakes and Christian ale.

To the one he comes like Tamburlain, with his black and bloody flag; but to the other his white one hangs out, and, upon the parley, rather than fail, he takes ten groats in the pound for his ransom, and so lets him march away with bag and baggage.

" "To pleasure my Queen I will do it," said Sir Robert Lee, "but for the sake of no other in all the world would I wager a groat, for no man can stand against Tepus and Gilbert and Clifton.

Perhaps, if every one who employed or harboured an author, was assessed a groat a year, it would sufficiently lessen the nuisance without destroying the species.

May peace and plenty be his lot, Unstained by any vicious spot, And may he never want a groat That's fond o' Tullochgorum!

Follow me not, lest I belabour you, You half-fac'd groat, you thick-cheek'd chittyface; You Judas-villain!

Now who doth so much vacare à rebus, who rests so much, who hath so little to do as the beggar? who can sing so merry a note, as he that cannot change a groat?