Those that wil now braue gallant men be deem’d,
And with the Common people be esteem’d,
Let them turne hack-sters as they walke the street,
Quarrell, and fight with euery one they meet;

* * *

Yet this is nothing if they looke for fame,
And meane to haue an euerlasting name.
Amongst the Vulgar let them seeke for gaine
With Ward the Pirat on the boisterous Maine,1
Or else well mounted keepe themselues on land,
And bid our wealthy trauellers to stand,
Emptying their full cram’d bags; for that’s a tricke
Which sometimes wan renoune to cutting Dicke.2
But some may tell me, though that such,
It doth not goe against their conscience much:
And though there’s boldnes showne in such a case,
Yet to be Tost at Tyburns a disgrace,3
No, ’tis their credit, for the people then,
Wil say, ’tis pitty they were proper men.

George Wither

Notes

• Ward the Pirat: John Ward turned pirate in 1603, and became a pirate captain shortly afterwards. His hunting ground was the Mediterranean, and from 1606 he made his base in Tunis. A very successful pirate, he was the subject of several ballads and a play. He was never captured.  [return]
• cutting Dicke: ‘Cutting Dick’, hero of a lost play, flourished from about 1600 to 1602.  [return]
• to be Tost at Tyburn: hanged. Tyburn was the place of common execution for London and Middlesex.  [return]