THE 
 
 TWO SHOEMAKERS 
 
 PAHT VI. 
 
 DIALOGUE THE SECOND. 
 
 On the Dufij of carrijhig Religion into our Amusements, 
 
 Sold by HOWARD and EVANS 
 
 ^ S;:rNf 4?^,^fP «^''-^^07 for Mora! and rL.V.-o,, 
 
 J. HA'f CHARD No Mr'>''''"!',}^"'-S"^''''fieJd: a."d 
 HAZARD, Bath- am^'h .'.^"^"^'"y' London. By S 
 Hawkers in ^I'A CJc'oVn'iy Newsmen/and 
 %• Great Allowance will be „.ade Shopkeepers an.i H . ' 
 
 Price One Pcnvii V).. r ' ""P"' a"'' Hawkers, 
 ? ^ tnuy. Or 6s. per Ilumlrtd. 
 
 entpre& at ^mmm% ^au. 
 
THE 
 
 TWO SHOEMAKERS, &c. 
 
 PART yi. 
 
 ^HE next evening Will Simpson being got 
 first to his work, Mp. Stock found him sing- 
 ing very cheerfally over his last. His master's 
 entrance did not prevent his finishing his song, 
 which concluded with these words:— 
 
 Since life is no more than a passage at best, 
 " Let us strew the way over with flowers." 
 
 When Will had concluded his song, he turned 
 to Mr. Stock, and said, "I thank you, master, 
 for first putting it into my liead how wicked it 
 is to sing prophane and indecent songs, I ne- 
 
4 
 
 so 
 
 ver sing any now which have any wicked words 
 in them." 
 
 Slock. I am glad to hear it. So far you do 
 well. But there are other things as bad a 
 wicked words; nay, worse perhaps, though Uie 
 do not .0 much shock the ear ofdecency. 
 
 Will. What is that, master ? What can be 
 
 had as wicked words } 
 
 Stock. Wicked thoughts, Will. Wliich 
 thoughts, when they are covered over witli 
 smooth words, and dressed out in pleasing 
 rhymes, so as not to shock modest young people 
 by the sound, do more harm to their principle 
 than those songs of which the words are sogros 
 and disgusting, that no person of modest decenc 
 can for a moment listen to them. 
 
 Will. Well, master, I am sure that was 
 very pretty song I was singing when you cam 
 in, and a song which very sober good people su)f 
 Stock. Do they .? TlKn 1 will be bold tosaj 
 that singing such songs is no part of their goj* 
 ness. 1 heard indeed but two lines of it, » 
 they were so heathenish that I desire to hear- 
 
 more. 
 
 Will. New you are really too hard. ^^'1 
 harm could there be in it There was not 
 indecent word. 
 
Slock. I own, indeed, that indecent words are 
 particaJarly offensive. But, as I said before, 
 Ihoiigli immodest expressions offend the ear 
 more, they do not corrupt the heart, perhaps, 
 much more than son{?s of which the words are 
 decent, and the principle vicious. In the latter 
 case, because there is nothing that shocks his 
 ear, a man listens till the sentiment has so cor- 
 rupted his heart, tliat his ear growR har<lened 
 too, and by long custom he loses all sense of 
 the danger of prophane diversions; and, I must 
 say I have often heard young women of charac- 
 ter sing songs in company which I should be 
 ashamed to read by myself. But come, as we 
 work let us talk over this business a little ; and 
 first let us stick to this sober song of-your's, th^ 
 you boast so much about (repeats) 
 
 Since life is no more than a passage at best, 
 " Let us strew the way over with flowers.'' 
 
 Now what do you learn by this ? 
 JVilL Why, master, I don't pretend to leara 
 much by it :— but 'tis a pretty tune and pretty 
 • words. 
 
 Stock. But what do those pretty words mean ? 
 ^ IFilL That we must make ourselves merry, 
 ecause life is short. 
 
G 
 
 Stock. Will ! of what religion are you ? 
 IViil. You are always asking one such odd 
 questions, master ; why a Christian to be sure. 
 
 Stock. If I often ask you, or others, this ques. 
 tion, it is only because I like to know wha 
 ground's I am to go upon when I am talkin 
 with you or them. I conceive that there are i 
 this country two sorts of people. Christians, an 
 no Christians. Now, if people profess to be c 
 this first description, I expect one kind of no 
 tions, opinions, and behaviour from them: if the) 
 say they are of the latter, then I look for ano 
 ther set of notions and actions from them. 1 
 compel no man to think with me. I take ever; 
 ..man at his word. 1 only expect him to thinl 
 and believe according to the character he take 
 upon himself, and to act on the principles of tb 
 character which he professes to maintain, 
 
 mil. That's fair enough; I can't say butiti 
 to take a man at his own word, and hiso» 
 grounds. 
 
 Sioc^;;. Well then. Of whom does the scr 
 tare speak when it says, " Let us eat and dria 
 for to-morrow wedie ?" 
 
 JVilL Why of heathens, to be sure, not 
 
 Christians, 
 
7 
 
 Stock. And of whom, when it says, " Letups* 
 crown ourselves with rose-buds before they are 
 
 withered?'' 
 
 n^ill. O ! that is Solomon's worldly fool. 
 Stock. You disapprove of both then ? 
 , mil.. To be sure I do- 1 should not be a 
 'Christian if I did not. 
 
 Stock, And yet, though a Christian, you are 
 admiring the very same thought in the song you 
 were singing. How do you reconcile this ? 
 
 JFilL O, there 'is no comparison between 
 them. These several texts are designed to des- 
 .cribe loose wicked heathens. Now I learn texts 
 as part of my religion. But religion you know 
 has nothing to do with a song. I sing a song for 
 niy pleasure. 
 
 Stock. In our last night's talk. Will, I endea- 
 voured to prove to you that religion was to be 
 brought into our business. I wish now to let 
 you see that it is to be brought into our pleasure 
 also. And that he who is really a Christian, 
 must be a Christian in his very diversions. 
 
 Will. Now you are too strict again, master, 
 as you last night declared, that in our business 
 you would not have us always praying, so I hope 
 that in our plea^sm^e you w^ould jiot have us al- 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
8 
 
 ways psalm-singing. I hope you would not hav; 
 all one's singing to be about good things. 
 
 Stock. Not so, Will ; but I would not have 
 any part either of our business or our pleasure 
 to be about evil things. It is one thing to be 
 singing a6o7/f religion, it is another thing to k 
 singing agairist it. St. Peter, I fancy, woulc 
 not much have approved your favourite son^ 
 He, at least, seemed to have another view of the 
 matter, v/hen he said, The end of all things is 
 at hand." Now this text teaches much the 
 same awful truth with the first line of your som, 
 But let us see to what different purposes tk 
 apostle and the poet turn the very same thought 
 Your song says, because life is short, let us 
 make it merry. Let us divert ourselves so 
 much on the road that we may forget the end 
 Now what says the apostle, Because the eiv 
 of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sobei 
 and watch unto prayer,'* 
 
 iVilL Why, master, I like to be sober t^o 
 ar.d have left off drinking. But still I nevei 
 thought that we were obliged to carry texts oot 
 of the Bible to try the soundness of a song; and 
 to enable us to judge if we nnight be both merrf 
 And wiscln singing it. 
 
9 
 
 Stock. Providence has not so stinted our en- 
 joyments, Will, blithe has left us many subjects 
 of harmless merriment; but, for my own part, 
 I am never certain that any one is quite harm- 
 less till I have tried it by this rule that you seem 
 to think so strict. There is another favourite 
 catch which I heard you and some of the work- 
 men humming yesterday. 
 
 fFilL I will prove to you that there is not a 
 word of harm in that ; pray listen now. (Sings) 
 Which is the best day to drink — Sunday^ 
 
 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 
 
 Friday, Saturday?" 
 
 Stock. Now, Will, do you really find your 
 unwillingness to drink is so great, that you standi 
 in need of all these incentives to provoke you to 
 it? Do you not find temptation strong enough, 
 without exciting your inclinations, and whetting 
 your appetites in this manner ? Can any thing be 
 more unchristian, than to persuade youth fay 
 pleasant words, set to the most alluring music, 
 that the pleasures of drinking are so great, that 
 every day in the week, naming them all, suc- 
 cessively, by way of fixing and enlarging the 
 idea, is equally fit, equally proper, and equally 
 delightful, for what ?— for the low and sensual 
 purpose Qf getting drunk, Tell me, Will, are 
 
10 
 
 our so very averse to pleasure ? Are you natu. 
 
 rally so cold and dead to all passion and 
 
 temptation, that you really find it necessary to 
 
 inflame your imagination, and disorder your 
 senses, in order to excite a quicker relish for the 
 
 pleasures of sin ? 
 
 JVilL All this is true enough, indeed, but I 
 never saw it in this licfht before. 
 
 Stock, As I passed by the Greyhound last 
 night, in the way to my evening's walk in the 
 fields, I caught tiiis one verse of a song which 
 the club were singing. 
 
 *' Bring the flask, tlie music bring, 
 Joy shall quickly find us ; 
 Drink, and dance, and Jaiigh, and sing, 
 And cast dull care behind us." 
 
 When I got into the fields, I could not for- 
 bear comparing this sone with the second lesson 
 last Sunday evenino- at church; these were the 
 words : — " Take lieeJ least at any time your 
 fceart be overcharged v/ith drunkenness, awd so 
 that day come upon you unawares; for as a 
 snare shall it come upon all them that are on 
 
 the face of the earth." 
 
 IVilL Why, be sure, if the second lesson 
 
 \vas right, the song must be wrong. 
 
u 
 
 Stock, I i'''^'^ o"^^^ ^"^"^^^'^^ ^'^^'^^ ^ compa- 
 
 rison between sucli songs as begin with 
 " Drink and drive care away," 
 
 with these injunctions of holy writ, Watch 
 and pray therefore that you enter not into temp- 
 tation and again, - Watch and pray that you 
 may escape all these things." I say I compar-^ 
 this with the song I allude to :— 
 
 Drink and drive care away, 
 
 Diinkr.nd be merry; 
 Yoh'11 ne'er go the faster 
 To the Stygian ferry." 
 
 I compared this with that awful admonition of 
 Scripture how to pass the time, Not in rioting 
 t3nd drunkenness, not in chambering and wanton- 
 ness ; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil tlie 
 lusts thereof. 
 
 Will. I am afraid, then master, you would 
 not much approve of wliat I used to tinnk a very 
 pretty song, which begins with 
 
 " A pkigue on tliose musty old lubbers, 
 Who teach us to fast and to think." 
 
 Stock. Will, what would you think of any one 
 who should sit down and write a book or a song to 
 abuse the clerey ? 
 
12 
 
 iVilL Why I should think he was a very 
 wicked fellow, and I hope no one would look into 
 such a book, or sing such a song. 
 
 Stock, And yet it must certainly be the cler. 
 gy who are scoffed at in that verse, it being their 
 professed business to teach us to ihink and be se- 
 rious. 
 
 T'Fill, Aye, master, and now you have opened 
 my eyes, I think 1 can make some of those 
 cgmparisons myself between the spirit of Bible 
 and the spirit of these songs^ 
 
 Bring the flask, the goblet bring," 
 
 won't stand very well in company with the 
 threat of the prophet : *' Woe unto them that 
 rise up early, that , they m^y mingle strong 
 drink." 
 
 Stock. Aye, Will ; and these thoughtless people 
 who live up to their singing, seem to be the very 
 people described in another place as glorying in 
 their intemperance, and acting what their songs 
 describe: — They look at the v/ine cmd say it is 
 red, it moveth itself aright in the cup/' 
 
 Will. I do hope I shall for the future not only 
 become more careful what songs I sing myself 
 but also not to keep company with those who 
 sing nothing else but what, in my sober ju^J' 
 nient, I now see to be wrong. 
 
13 
 
 Stock. As we shall have no body in the world 
 to come, U is a pity not only to make our plea- 
 sures here consist entirely in the delights of ani- 
 mal life, but to make our very songs consist in 
 extolling and exalting those delights which are 
 unworthy of the man as well as of the Christian^ 
 If, through temptation or weakness, we fall into 
 errors, let us not establish and confirm them by 
 picking up all the songs and scraps of verses 
 which excuse, justify, and commend sin. That 
 time is short, is a reason given by the' song- 
 mongers why we should give into greater in- 
 dulgences. That time is short, is a reason given 
 by the apostle why we should enjoy our dearest 
 comfoits as if we enjoyed them not. 
 
 Ncw,\Vill, I hope you will see the importance 
 of so managing, that our diversions (for diver- 
 sions of some kind we all require,) may be as 
 carefully chosen as ourother employments. For 
 to make thera such as shall effectually drive out 
 of our minds all thac the Bible or the Minister 
 have been putting into them, seems to me as im- 
 prudent as it is unchristian. But this is not all. 
 Such sentiments as these songs contain, set oti' 
 by the prettiest music, heightened by liquor, and 
 all the noise and spirit of what is called jovial 
 company, all this, I say, not only puts every 
 
14 
 
 Uung that is right out of the mind but puts every 
 thing that is wrong into it. Such songs, there- 
 fore, as tend to promote levity, thoughtlessness, 
 loose imaginations, false views of life, forgetful^ 
 iiess of death, contempt of whatever is serious, and 
 neglect of whatever is sober, whether they be love 
 songs, or drinking songs, will not, cannot be 
 sung by any man or any woman who makes a 
 serious profession of Christianity/^ 
 
 ^ It is uith YCgrH t have lately observed, tliat tlic'fusliioii. 
 able author and singer of soii<zs, more loose, profane and 
 corrupt, than any of tJiose Iiere noticed, not only received 
 a prize .as tlie rcwardof his important services, but received 
 also the public acknowlengments of an illustrious society for 
 having conttibuicd ioihc happtjicss of their counfr}/. 
 
 F i N I 
 
THE FOLLOWING 
 
 T R A C T 
 
 S 
 
 HAVE BEEN LATELY PRINTEI> ASD i'UBLISHED BY 
 
 HOWARD AND PVANS, 
 
 The History of Mr. Bragv/ell 7 Parts price 6d, 
 
 The Two Shoemakers - - c ditto 4^1. 
 
 Price Thrfrpefice, 
 The Story of Joseph and his F.rethren. 
 The Explanation of the Ten Commandments. 
 Pravers to be used by a Youn^ Person, by a Grown Per* 
 80n, by the Mastei or Mistress of a Sjnday School, 
 
 Price Twopetice, 
 The History of Tom White, the Postillion. 
 The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain. 
 Black Giles the Poacher, \^ Two Parts. 
 
 Price Three -Halfpence, 
 Watts's Hymns for Children, complete?, with Prayers* 
 The History of Mary Wood. 
 
 , Mr. Fantom. 
 
 The Labourers in the Vineyard. 
 The Valley of Tears, in Two Parts. 
 The 'Judgment Day. 
 
 Hints to ail Ranks on the Scarcitjr of 1795, 
 
 Price One Penny. 
 
 The Good Mother's Legacy, 
 
 The Two Soldiers. 
 The Thunderstorm, 
 Tis all for the Best. 
 The Cottage Cook. 
 The Sunday School. 
 Hester Wilmot, Part L IL 
 The Sacrament of the Lord's 
 
 Supper. 
 A new Christmas Tract, 
 Good Friday Tract. 
 Parley the Poi ter. 
 The Fall of Adam. 
 The Black Prince. 
 The Cheapside Apprentice. 
 The Lancashire Collier Girl. 
 The Lire of William Baker. 
 Betty Brown. 
 
 The Shopkeeper, 4 parts. 
 
 The Beggarly Boy. 
 Noah's Flood. 
 The Troubles of Life* 
 The Llarvest Home, 
 Sorrowful Sam. 
 Tawney Rachel. 
 ^Charles Jones, the Footman, 
 General Resurrection and Day 
 
 of Judgment. 
 Onesimus 
 
 Patient Joe, Wild Robert, 
 Faith and Works, Gin Shop 
 
 Sinful Sally. Robert and Rich- 
 ard, Hampshire Tragedy, 
 Bad Bargain. 
 
 Turn the Carpet, Christma 
 Hymn, Army of Martyrs. 
 
 Howsrd^and Evans, Priaters, 4-2; Long-lane, West smithlield.