That will not be true to his trust.

And now to conclude my new song,
And draw to a perfect conclusion,
I have told you what is in my mind,
And what is my [firm] resolution.
For this I have made it appear,
And prove by experience I can,
'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world
To be a plain-dealing man.



Poem: THE VANITIES OF LIFE.



[THE following verses were copied by John Clare, the
Northamptonshire peasant, from a MS. on the fly-leaves of an old
book in the possession of a poor man, entitled THE WORLD'S BEST
WEALTH; A COLLECTION OF CHOICE COUNCILS IN VERSE AND PROSE.
PRINTED FOR A. BETTESWORTH, AT THE RED LION IN PATERNOSTER-ROW,
1720. They were written in a 'crabbed, quaint hand, and difficult
to decipher.' Clare remitted the poem (along with the original
MS.) to Montgomery, the author of THE WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD, &c.
&c., by whom it was published in the SHEFFIELD IRIS. Montgomery's
criticism is as follows:- 'Long as the poem appears to the eye, it
will abundantly repay the trouble of perusal, being full of
condensed and admirable thought, as well as diversified with
exuberant imagery, and embellished with peculiar felicity of