Royalty

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                 THE GOLDEN DAYS

         Of Good Queen Bess.

     Printed and sold by J. Jennings, 15,Water-lane,
                                Fleet-street.

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 memory 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 bughears of Dons and Armadas,
With their gunpowder puffs,and their blustering bravadoe
For we know how to manage both the musket and the bow, sir,
And could bring down a Spaniard just as easy as a crow, sir.

Then our streets were unpav'd, and our houses unthatch'd, sir,
Our windows were lattic'd, our doors only latch'd, sir,
Yet so few were the folk that would plunder or rob, sir,
That the hangman was starving for want of a job, sir.

Then our ladies with large ruffs ty'd round about the neck fast,
Would gobble up a pound of beefstakes for their breakfast,
While a close quill'd up coif their noddles just fit, sir,
And they truss'd up as tight as a rabbit for the spit, sir.

Then jerkins and doublets, and yellow worsted hose, sir,
With a pair of huge whiskers was the dress of our beaux, sir,
Strong beer they preferr'd too to claret or to hock, sit,
And no poultry they priz'd like the wing of an ox, sir.

Good neighbourhuod then was as plenty too as beef, sir,
And the poor from the rich never wanted relief, sir, (sir,
While merry went the mill, clack the shuttle, and the plough,
And honest men could live by the sweat of their brow, sir.

Then the folk every Sunday went twice at least to church, sir,
And never left the parson or his sermon in the lurch, sir, (sir,
For they judg'd that the Sabbath was for people to be good in,
And though it sabbath-breaking if they din'd without a pud-
   ding, sir.

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 interest supported,
And our powerful alliance by all powers then was courted.

Thus renow'd as they liv'd all the days of their lives, sir,
Bright example of glory to those who survive, sir,
May we their descendants pursue the same ways, sir,
That King George like Queen Bess may have his golden days,
And may a longer reign of glory and success,               (sir,
Make his name eclipse the fame of good Queen Bess.