Broadside ballad entitled 'Arms and the Man, I Sing'

Transcription

ARMS and the MAN, I sing.

A BALLAD.

I.

GOD prosper our King, and the King's noble Sons!
May their Praises refound from the Mouths of their Guns!
Till Rebellion and all civil Discord may cease,
And these Realms be restor'd to a flourishing Peace.

II.

How this War first begun, and the Progress 't has made,
Has never been sung, tho' 't has often been said ;
Yet great Deeds to record to great Poets belongs,
As Homer and Virgil set forth in their Songs.

III.

The Scots, as the Swiss, making Fighting a Trade,
(For ever betraying, for ever betray'd)
Like the Frogs, sick of Log, chufe a King of their own ;
'Twill ne'er out of the Flesh what is bred in the Bone.

IV.

From Rome a young Hero, well known, they invite
To accept of a Crown, which he claims as his Right ;
In City and Town they their Monarch proclaim,
And their old King and new King are one and the fame.

V.

When these Tidings reach'd England, three Chieftains they chose,
Rebellion to rout, and its Progress oppose.
But 1 st, 2d, and 3d, were all struck with Dismay;
Thrice happy the Man who could first run away.

VI.

Now great Preparations proclaim their great Fears ;
The Militia, the Dutch, the Troops raised by the Dears;
They associte, subscribe fast vote and address
For you know loyal Subjects can do nothing lets.

VII.

Horse, Foot and Dragoons, from loft Flanders they Call,
With Hessians and Danes, and the Devil and all,
The Hunters and Rangers, led by Oglethorpe,
And the Church, at the Arse of the Bishop of York.

VIII.

And, pray, who so fit to lead forth this Parade,
As the Babe of Tangier, my old Grandmother Wade ?
Whose Cunning's so quick, but whose Motion's so slow,
That the Rebels march'd on, whilst he stuck in the Snow.

IX.

Poor London, alas! is scar'd out of its Wits,
With Arms, and Alarms! as fad Soldiers as Cits,
Sure of dying by Inches, whatever Cause thrives,
Since by parting with Money, they part with their Lives.

X.

But the Genius of Britain appears in the Duke,
Their Courage to raise, and their Fears to rebuke;
He march'd Day and Night till he got to the Rear,
And then sent us Word, He had nothing to fear.

XI.

All Night, under Arms, the brave Duke kept his Ground,
But the Devil a Rebel was there to be found ;
Then the Foot got on Horseback, the News give Account,
But that would not do, so the Horsemen dismount,

XII.

A fierce Fight then ensu'd by a Sort of Owl-Light,
Where none got the Day, because it was Night,
And so dark, that the Truth on't we never shall get,
Unless 'tis clear'd up by another Gazette.

[ To be continued. ']

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