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Intro
Part A
Am E | Am G | C G | Am - E Am
Am E | Am G | C G | Am - E Am
Part B
Em Em | Em Em | Em Em | A Em
Part C
C G | Am E | C G | Am - E Am
C G | Am E | C G | Am - E Am
verse 1
Am E Am G
My masters, and friends, and good people, draw near,
C G Am E Am
And look to your purses for that I do say;
Am E Am G
And though little mony in them you do bear,
C G Am E Am
It costs more to get than to lose in a day;
Em
You oft have been told, both the young and the old,
And bidden beware of the Cut-purse so bold;
C G Am E
Then, if you take heed not, free me from the curse,
C G Am E Am
Who both give you warning for and the cut-purse.
C G Am E
Youth, youth you hadst better been starv'd by thy nurse,
C G Am E Am
Than live to be hang'd for cutting as purse.
Bridge
Part A
Am E | Am G | C G | Am - E Am
Am E | Am G | C G | Am - E Am
Part B
Em Em | Em Em | Em Em | A Em
Part C
C G | Am E | C G | Am - E Am
C G | Am E | C G | Am - E Am
verse 2
Am E Am G
It hath been upbraided to men of my trade,
C G Am E Am
That oftentimes we are the cause of this crime.
Am E Am G
Alack and for pitty! why should it be said,
C G Am E Am
As if they regarded or places or time?
Em
Examples have been of those that were seen
In Westminster-hall, yea, the pleaders between;
C G Am E
Then why should the judges be free from this curse
C G Am E Am
More than my poor self is, for cutting a purse?
C G Am E
Then why should the judges be free from this curse
C G Am E Am
More than my poor self is, for cutting a purse?
verse 3
Am E Am G
At Worster, 'tis known well that even in the jale,
C G Am E Am
A knight of good worship did there shew his face.
Am E Am G
Against the foul sinners in zeale for to raile,
C G Am E Am
And so lost, ipso facto, his purse in the place:
Em
Nay, once from the seat of judgement so great,
A judge there did lose a fair pouch of velvet.
C G Am E
Oh Lord! for thy mercy how wicked, or worse,
C G Am E Am
Are those that so venture their necks for a purse!
C G Am E
Oh Lord! for thy mercy how wicked, or worse,
C G Am E Am
Are those that so venture their necks for a purse!
verse 4
Am E Am G
At playes and at sermons and at the Sessions,
C G Am E Am
'Tis daily their practice such booty to make;
Am E Am G
Yea under the gallows, at executions,
C G Am E Am
They stick not the stare-abouts' purses to take;
Em
Nay, one without grace, at a better place,
At Court, and in Christmas, before the Kings face.
C G Am E
Alack then for pitty! must I bear the curse,
C G Am E Am
That only belongs to the cunning Cut-purse?
C G Am E
Youth, youth you hadst better been starv'd by thy nurse,
C G Am E Am
Than live to be hang'd for cutting as purse.
Verse 5
Am E Am G
But oh, you vile nation of Cut-purses all!
C G Am E Am
Relent and repent, and amend, and be sound,
Am E Am G
And know that you ought not by honest men's fall
C G Am E Am
Advance your own fortunes to dye above ground:
Em
And though you go gay in silks, as you may,
It is not the highway to heaven, as they say.
C G Am E
Repent then, repent you, for better for worse,
C G Am E Am
And kiss not the gallows for cutting a purse.
C G Am E
Youth, youth you hadst better been starv'd by thy nurse,
C G Am E Am
Than live to be hang'd for cutting as purse.
Verse 6
Am E Am G
The players doe tell you in Bartholemew Faire
C G Am E Am
What secret consumptions and rascels you are;
Am E Am G
For one of their actors, it seems, had the fate,
C G Am E Am
By some of you trade to be fleeced of late:
Em
Then fall to your prayers, you that are way-layers!
They're fit to chouse all the world that can cheat players;
C G Am E
For he hath the art, and no man the worse,
C G Am E Am
Whose cunning can pilfer the pilferer's purse.
C G Am E
For he hath the art, and no man the worse,
C G Am E Am
Whose cunning can pilfer the pilferer's purse.
Verse 7
Am E Am G
The plain countryman that comes staring to London,
C G Am E Am
If once you come near him he quickly is undone;
Am E Am G
For when he amazedly gazeth about,
C G Am E Am
One treads on his toes, and the other puls't out;
Em
Then in a strange place, where he knows no face,
His mony is gone, 'tis a pittifull case.
C G Am E
The divel of hell in his trade is not worse
C G Am E Am
Than gilter, and diver, and cutter of purse.
C G Am E
The divel of hell in his trade is not worse
C G Am E Am
Than gilter, and diver, and cutter of purse.
Verse 8
Am E Am G
The poor servant maid wears her purse in her placket,
C G Am E Am
A place of quick feeling, and yet you can take it;
Am E Am G
Nor is she aware that you have done the feat,
C G Am E Am
Untill she is going to pay for her meat;
Em
Then she cryes and she rages amongst her baggages,
And swears at one thrust she hath lost all her wages;
C G Am E
For she is ingaged her own to disburse,
C G Am E Am
To make good the breach of the cruel Cut-purse.
C G Am E
For she is ingaged her own to disburse,
C G Am E Am
To make good the breach of the cruel Cut-purse.
Verse 9
Am E Am G
Your eyes and your fingers are nimble of growth,
C G Am E Am
But Dun many times hath been nimbler than both;
Am E Am G
Yet you are deceived by many a slut,
C G Am E Am
But the hangman is only the Cut-purses cut.
Em
It makes you to vex when he bridles your necks,
And then at the last what becomes of your tricks?
C G Am E
But when you should pray, you begin for to curse
C G Am E Am
The hand that first shewd you to slash at purse.
C G Am E
But when you should pray, you begin for to curse
C G Am E Am
The hand that first shewd you to slash at purse.
verse 10
Am E Am G
But now to my hearers this counsel I give,
C G Am E Am
And pray, friends, remember it as long as you live,
Am E Am G
Bring out no more cash in purse, pocket or wallet,
C G Am E Am
Than one single penny to pay for the ballet;
Em
For Cut-purse doth shrowd himself in a cloud,
There's many a purse hath been lost in a crowd;
C G Am E
For he's the most rouge that doth crowd up, and curses,
C G Am E Am
Who first cryes, 'My masters, beware of your purses!'
C G Am E
Youth, youth you hadst better been starv'd by thy nurse,
C G Am E Am
Than live to be hang'd for cutting at purse.
Outro
Part A
Am E | Am G | C G | Am - E Am
Am E | Am G | C G | Am - E Am
Part B
Em Em | Em Em | Em Em | A Em
Part C
C G | Am E | C G | Am - E Am
C G | Am E | C G | Am - E Am