“But stay, my Muse; I think ’tis but a folly To plunge ourselves too deep in Melancholly; Let us revive a little, though in jest, Of a bad Market we must make the best. Is nothing left to chear us? not one Sup? We’le try conclusions, ere the Game be up. Methinks I hear some say, Friend, Prithee hark, Where got you drink and Victuals in the _Park_? I, there’s the Query; We shall soon decide it, Why, We had Men, cal’d Sutlers, provided; Subtle they were, before they drove this Trade, But by this means, they all were sutler made. No wind, or weather, ere could make them flinch, Yet they would have the Souldiers at a pinch. For my part, I know little of their way, But what I hear my fellow Souldiers say; One said, Their Meat and Pottage was too fat; Yes, quoth another, we got none of that: Besides, quoth he, they have a cunning sleight, In selling out their Meat by pinching weight; To make us pay sixpence a pound for Beefe, To a poor Souldier, is no little grief. Their Bread is small, their Cheese is mark’t by th’ Inch, And, to speak truth, they’re all upon the pinch. As for their Liquor, drink it but at leisure, And you shall ne’re be drunk with over measure. Thus would they often talk to one another; And, for my part, I speak it as a Brother, They for the Sutlers put up many a Prayer, When, for themselves they took not so much care. This was, it seems, most of the Sutlers’ dealings, But yet, I say, there’s none but have their failings. They might do this (poor men), yet think no evil. Therefore they’l go to God, or to the D----. “But leave them now, because Tat-too has beat, And fairly to our Tents let us retreat, Where we keep such a coyl, and such a quarter, And all to make the tedious nights seem shorter. Then down we lie, until our bones do ake, First one side, then the other weary make. When frost did pinch us, then we shake and shiver, And full as bad we were in stormy weather; A boistrous blast, when men with sleep were dead, Would bring their Houses down upon their head. Thus in extremity, we often lay, Longing to see the dawning of the day Which brought us little comfort, for the Air Was very sharp, and very hard our fare. Our sufferings were almost beyond belief, And yet we found small hopes to have relief.