My pleasure’s more than that to see my oxen fat, And to prosper well under my hand; And therefore I do mean, with my horse, and with my team, To keep myself a husbandman. SERVINGMAN. O ’tis a gallant thing in the prime time of the spring, To hear the huntsman now and than His bugle for to blow, and the hounds run all a row: This is pleasure for a servingman! To hear the beagle cry, and to see the falcon fly, And the hare trip over the plain, And the huntsmen and the hound make hill and dale rebound: This is pleasure for a servingman! HUSBANDMAN. ’Tis pleasure, too, you know, to see the corn to grow, And to grow so well on the land; The plowing and the sowing, the reaping and the mowing, Yield pleasure to the husbandman. SERVINGMAN. At our table you may eat all sorts of dainty meat, Pig, cony, goose, capon, and swan; And with lords and ladies fine, you may drink beer, ale, and wine! This is pleasure for a servingman. HUSBANDMAN. While you eat goose and capon, I’ll feed on beef and bacon, And piece of hard cheese now and than; We pudding have, and souse, always ready in the house, Which contents the honest husbandman. SERVINGMAN. At the court you may have your garments fine and brave, And cloak with gold lace laid upon, A shirt as white as milk, and wrought with finest silk: That’s pleasure for a servingman! HUSBANDMAN. Such proud and costly gear is not for us to wear; Amongst the briers and brambles many a one, A good strong russet coat, and at your need a groat, Will suffice the husbandman. A proverb here I tell, which likes my humour well, And remember it well I can, If a courtier be too bold, he’ll want when he is old. Then farewell the servingman. SERVINGMAN. It needs must be confest that your calling is the best, No longer discourse with you I can; But henceforth I will pray, by night and by day, Heaven bless the honest husbandman. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE HUSBANDMAN AND THE SERVINGMAN. [THIS traditional version of the preceding ancient dialogue has long been popular at country festivals. At a harvest-home feast at Selborne, in Hampshire, in 1836, we heard it recited by two countrymen, who gave it with considerable humour, and dramatic effect. It was delivered in a sort of chant, or recitative. Davies Gilbert published a very similar copy in his _Ancient Christmas Carols_. In the modern printed editions, which are almost identical with ours, the term ‘servantman’ has been substituted for the more ancient designation.] SERVINGMAN.