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REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE TO GEORGE II. 663 |
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Turpin then, without remorse, Soon knock'd him quite from off his horse, And left him on the ground to sprawl, So off he rode with his gold and all. O rare Turpin, &c.
As he rode over Salisbury Plain, He met Lord Judge with all his train ; Then, hero-like, he did approach, And robb'd the judge as he sat in his coach. O rare Turpin, &c.
An usurer, as I am told,
Who had in charge a sum of gold,
With a cloak was clouted from side to side;
Just like a palmer he did ride.
O rare Turpin, &e.
And as he jogg'd along the way, He met with Turpin that same day: With hat in hand, most courteously He asked him for charity.
O rare Turpin, &c.
If that be true thou tell'st to me, I'll freely give thee charity; But I made a vow, and that I'll keep, To search all palmers I may meet. O rare Turpin, &c.
He searched his bags,- wherein he found Upwards of eight hundred pound, In ready gold and white money, Which made him to laugh heartily. O rare Turpin, &c. |
This begging is a curious trade, For in thy way thou hast well sped; This prize I count as found money, Because thou told'st me an arrant lie. O rare Turpin, &c.
For shooting of a dunghill cock, Poor Turpin now at last is took, And carried straight unto a jail, Where his ill luck he does bewail. O poor Turpin, &c.
Now some do say that he will hang, Turpin the last of all the gang: I wish this cock had ne'er been hatch'd, For like a fish in a net he's catch'd. O poor Turpin, &c.
But if he had his liberty, And were upon yon mountains high, There's not a man in old England, Dare bid bold Turpin for to stand. O poor Turpin, &c.
He ventur'd bold at young and old, And fairly fought them for their gold; Of no man he was e'er afraid, But now, alas! he is betray'd.
O poor Turpin, &c.
Now Turpin is condem'd to die, To hang upon yon gallows high : His legacy is a strong rope, For stealing a poor dunghill cock. O poor Turpin, &c. |
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THE FEEEMASONS' TUNE.
This tune was very popular at the time of the ballad-operas, and I am informed that the same -words are still sung to it at masonic meetings.
The air was introduced in The Village Opera, The Chambermaid, The Lottery, The Grub-Street Opera, and The Lover his own Rival. It is contained in the third volume of The Dancing Master, and of Walsh's New Country Dancing Master.
Words and music are included in Watts's Musical Miscellany, iii. 72, and in British Melody, or The Musical Magazine, fol. 1739. They were also printed on broadsides.
In The Gentleman's Magazine for October, 1731, the first stanza is printed as " A Health, by Mr. Birkhead." It seems to be there quoted from " The Constitutions of the Freemasons, by the Rev. James Anderson, A.M., one of the worshipful Masters."
There are several versions of the tune. One in Pills to purge Melancholy, ii. 230, 1719, has a second part, but that, being almost a repetition of the first, |
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