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590 ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC. |
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And there's the jolly cooper, with hoops at his back, Who trudgeth up and down to see who lack Their casks to be made tight, with hoops great and small, Whilst I sit singing, getting money, &c.
And there's a jolly tinker, who loves a bonny lass, Who trudges up and down to mend old brass, With his long smutty pouch, to force holes withal, Whilst I sit, &c.
And there is another, call'd old Tommy Terrah, Who, up and down the city, does drive with a barrow, To try to sell his fruit to great and to small,
Whilst I sit, &c. And there are the blind, and the lame with wooden leg, Who, up and down the city, are forc'd to beg: They get crumbs of comfort, the which are but small,
Whilst I sit, &c. And there's a gang of wenches, who oysters do sell, And then Powder Moll, with her scent-sweet smell: She trudges up and down with powder and with ball,
Whilst I sit, &c.
And there are jovial girls with their milking pails, Who trudge up and down, with their draggle-tails Flip-flapping at their heels; for customers they call, Whilst I sit, &c.
These are the gang who do take great pain, And it is these who me maintain, But when it blows and rains, I do pity them all, To see them trudge about, while I am in my stall.
And there are many more who slave and toil, Their living to get, but it's not worth while To mention them all; so I'll sing in my stall, I am the happiest mortal, mortal of them all."
The third, in the Pills, is " The jolly Sailor's Resolution." (vi. 41.) It is i long ballad of fourteen stanzas, relating how the sailor had been well received bj his hostess, at Limehouse, when he had " abundance of gold," and was to hav< married her daughter; and how the daughter was coy, and the mother handec him over to a press-gang, as soon as it was exhausted. Now, having replenishec his store, his resolution is to forsake the " canting crew," who were again begin' ning to flatter him, and to marry another. He begins thus:— " That I am a sailor, 'tis very well known, And never, as yet, had a wife of my own ; But now I'm resolv'd to marry if I can, To show myself a jolly, jolly, brisk young man." There are several copies of the above, and it has been reprinted in Halliwell'j Early Naval Ballads of Migland. |
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