A Vindication of the Libel; or, a New Ballad, Written by a Shoe-Boy, on an Attorney Who Was Formerly a Shoe-Boy

WITH singing of ballads, and crying of news,With whitening of buckles, and blacking of shoes,Did Hartley set out, both shoeless and shirtless,And moneyless too, but not very dirtless;Two pence he had gotten by begging, that's all;One bought him a brush, and one a black ball;For clouts at a loss he could not be much,The clothes on his back as being but such;Thus vamp'd and accoutred, with clouts, ball, and brush,He gallantly ventured his fortune to push:Vespasian thus, being bespatter'd with dirt,Was omen'd to be Rome's emperor for't.But as a wise fiddler is noted, you know,To have a good couple of strings to one bow;So Hartley judiciously thought it too little,To live by the sweat of his hands and his spittle:He finds out another profession as fit,And straight he becomes a retailer of wit.One day he cried--"Murders, and songs, and great news!"Another as loudly--"Here blacken your shoes!"At Domvile's full often he fed upon bits,For winding of jacks up, and turning of spits;Lick'd all the plates round, had many a grubbing,And now and then got from the cook-maid a drubbing;Such bastings effect upon him could have none:The dog will be patient that's struck with a bone.Sir Thomas, observing this Hartley withalSo expert and so active at brushes and ball,Was moved with compassion, and thought it a pityA youth should be lost, that had been so witty:Without more ado, he vamps up my spark,And now we'll suppose him an eminent clerk!Suppose him an adept in all the degreesOf scribbling cum dasho, and hooking of fees;Suppose him a miser, attorney, per bill,Suppose him a courtier--suppose what you will--Yet, would you believe, though I swore by the Bible,That he took up two news-boys for crying the libel?

"Vespasian being dawb'd with Durt,Was destin'd to the Empire for'tAnd from a Scavinger did come