Gateway to the Classics: Oxford Book of English Verse, Part 1 by Arthur Quiller-Couch
 
Oxford Book of English Verse, Part 1 by  Arthur Quiller-Couch

A Pedlar

From John Dowland's Second Book of Songs or Airs  (1600)

Fine knacks for ladies! cheap, choice, brave, and new,

Good pennyworths—but money cannot move:

I keep a fair but for the Fair to view—

A beggar may be liberal of love.

Though all my wares be trash, the heart is true,

The heart is true.

Great gifts are guiles and look for gifts again;

My trifles come as treasures from my mind:

It is a precious jewel to be plain;

Sometimes in shell the orient'st pearls we find:—

Of others take a sheaf, of me a grain!

Of me a grain!

— Anonymous


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