Daddy Neptune, one day, to Freedom did say,
If ever I lived upon dry land,
The spot I should hit on would be little Britain!
Says Freedom, “Why, that ’s my own island!”
O, it ’s a snug little island!
A right little, tight little island!
Search the globe round, none can be found
So happy as this little island....
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God save our gracious king!
Long live our noble king!
God save the king!
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us—
God save the king!O Lord our God, arise!
Scatter his enemies,
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks;
On him our... -
“In the parish of St. Neots, Cornwall, is a well arched over with the robes of four kinds of trees,—withy, oak, elm, and ash,—and dedicated to St. Keyne. The reported virtue of the water is this, that, whether husband or wife first drink thereof, they get the mastery thereby.”
—FULLER.A WELL there is in the West country,
And a clearer one never was seen;... -
From “The Myrtle and the Vine”
A JOLLY fat friar loved liquor good store,
And he had drunk stoutly at supper;
He mounted his horse in the night at the door,
And sat with his face to the crupper:
“Some rogue,” quoth the friar, “quite dead to remorse,
Some thief, whom a halter will throttle,
Some scoundrel has cut off the head of my... -
From the Opera of “Robin Hood”
I AM a friar of orders gray,
And down in the valleys I take my way;
I pull not blackberry, haw, or hip,—
Good store of venison fills my scrip;
My long bead-roll I merrily chant;
Where’er I walk no money I want;
And why I ’m so plump the reason I tell,—
Who leads a good life is sure to live well.... -
ALAS! what pity ’t is that regularity,
Like Isaac Shove’s, is such a rarity!
But there are swilling wights in London town,
Termed jolly dogs, choice spirits, alias swine,
Who pour, in midnight revel, bumpers down,
Making their throats a thoroughfare for wine.These spendthrifts, who life’s pleasures thus run on,
Dozing with... -
Good people all, of every sort,
Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.In Islington there was a man
Of whom the world might say,
That still a godly race he ran—
Whene’er he went to pray.A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes:
The naked... -
Good people all, with one accord,
Lament for Madam Blaize;
Who never wanted a good word—
From those who spoke her praise.The needy seldom passed her door,
And always found her kind;
She freely lent to all the poor—
Who left a pledge behind.She strove the neighborhood to please,
With manner wondrous winning... -
Mr. Orator PUFF had two tones in his voice,
The one squeaking thus, and the other down so;
In each sentence he uttered he gave you your choice,
For one half was B alt, and the rest G below.
O! O! Orator Puff,
One voice for an orator ’s surely enough.But he still talked away, spite of coughs and of frowns,
So distracting... -
In Broad Street building (on a winter night),
Snug by his parlor-fire, a gouty wight
Sat all alone, with one hand rubbing
His feet rolled up in fleecy hose:
With t’ other he ’d beneath his nose
The Public Ledger, in whose columns grubbing,
He noted all the sales of hops,
Ships, shops, and slops;
Gum, galls, and groceries;...