Golden days of good Queen Bess (1)/The Golden Days of Good Queen Beſs
The Golden Days of Good Queen Beſs.
TO my muſe give attention,
and deem it not a myſtery,
If we jumble together muſic,
poetry, and hiſtory:
The times to diſplay in
the days of Queen Beſs, Sir,
Whoſe name and whoſe mem’ry
poſterity may bleſs, Sir.
O the golden days of good Queen Beſs;
Merry be the memory of good Queen Beſs.
Then we laugh’d at the bugbears
of Dons and Armadas,
With their gunpowder puffs,
and their blustering bravadoes;
For we knew how to manage both
the muſket and the bow, Sir,
And cou'd bring down a Spaniard
just as eaſy as a crow, Sir. O the, &c.
Then our ſtreets were unpav’d
and our houſes were thatch’d, Sir,
Our windows were lattic’d,
and our doors only latch’d, Sir;
Yet ſo few were the folks that
would plunder and rob, Sir,
That the Hangman was ſtarving
for want of a job, Sir. O the, &c.
Then our Ladies with large ruffs tied
round about the neck faſt,
Would gobble up a pound of
beef-ſtakes for their breakfaſt;
While a cloſe quil’d-up coif
their noddles juſt did fit, Sir,
And they truſs’d up as tight as a
rabbit for the ſpit, Sir. O’the golden, &c.
Then jerkins, and doublets, and
Yellow worſted hoſe, Sir,
With a huge pair of whiſkers,
was the dreſs of our beaux, Sir:
Strong beer they preferred
to claret, or to hock, Sir;
And no poultry they priz’d
like the wing of an ox, Sir. O the, &c.
Good neighbourhood then was as
plenty too as beef, Sir;
And the pooreſt from the rich
never wanted relief, Sir:
While merry went the mill-clack,
the ſhuttle and the plow, Sir,
And honeſt people could live by
the ſweet of their brow, Sir. O the, &c.
Then football, and wreſtling, and
pitching of the bar, Sir,
Were preferr’d to a flute, to a
fiddle, or guitar, Sir:
And for jaunting, and junketting,
the favourite regale, Sir,
Was a walk as far as Chelſea,
to demoliſh buns and ale, Sir. O the, &c.
Then the folks ev’ry Sunday
went twice at leaſt to church, Sir,
And never left the Parſon or
his ſermon in the lurch Sir;
For they judg’d that the Sabbath was
for people to be good in Sir;
And they thought it Sabbath-breaking
if they din’d without a pudding, Sir. &c.
Then our great men were good
and our good men were great, Sir,
And the props of the nation were
the pillars of the ſtate, Sir;
For the ſovereign and the ſubject
one interſst ſupported,
And our powerful alliance by
all pow’rs then was courted. O the, &c.
Then the High and Mighty States,
to their everlaſting ſtain, Sir,
By Britons were reliev’d from,
the galling yoke of Spain, Sir;
And the rouſed Britiſh Lion,
had all Europe then combin’d, Sir,
Undiſmay’d would have ſcatter’d them,
like chaff before the wind, Sir. O the, &c.
Thus they ate, and they drank,
and they work’d; and they play’d, Sir,
Of their friends were not aſhamed,
nor of enemies afraid, Sir:
And little, little did they think,
when this ground they ſtood on, Sir,
To be ſo near drawn to the life,
now they’re all dead and gone, Sir. &c.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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