Henry Farley

A Complaint

TO see a strange outlandish fowl,
A quaint baboon, an ape, an owl,
A dancing bear, a giant’s bone,
A foolish engine move alone,
A morris-dance, a puppet-play,
Mad Tom to sing a roundelay,
A woman dancing on a rope,
Bull-baiting also at the Hope,
A rimer’s jests, a juggler’s cheats,
A tumbler showing cunning feats,
Or players acting on a stage,
There goes the bounty of our age :
         But unto any pious motion
         There’s little coin and less devotion.