Ye ought to resent it, And in duty present it, For the law is against it: 453 Not only the actors engaged in this job, Have strove what they could, all this rage to sup press; And I hope many more Will exert the like power, Get a jot of preferment. But men of this kidney, as I told before. you I'll tell you a story: Once upon a time, Some hot-headed fellows must needs take a whim, ('Twas a mighty mistake) Who, tried by the laws of the realm for high-trea son, Were hang'd, drawn, and quarter'd, for that very reason. When the time came about For us all to set out, We went to take leave of the queen; Where were great men of worth, The greatest that ever were seen : We should recommend peace and good neighbourhood, where soever we came; and so I do here; For that every one, not only men and their wives, A special account how ye all stood affected; follow the track all Of your own bishop Blackall, As it were, in a string; Not falling out, quarrelling one with another, Now we're treating with Monsieur,—that son of his mother. Then proceeded on the common matters of the law; and concluded: Once more, and no more, since few words are best, If ye honour, as I do, request, And would live a long while In continual smile, And eat roast and boil, And not be forgotten, When ye are dead and rotten; That ye would be quiet, and peaceably dwell, JACK FRENCHMAN'S LAMENTATION, AN EXCELLENT NEW SONG. To the Tune of "I'll tell thee Dick," &c. [This ballad, upon the battle of Oudenarde, is given from a haw. ker's copy, bound up with various other broadside songs and poems, known to be written by Swift. It is printed for Morphew, in 1708. As Swift was then in London, and intimate with several of the ministers, he seems likely to have celebrated this great public success in one of those popular ditties which he composed with such facility. The song was very popular, and the tune is often referred to as that of "Ye Commons and Peers."] I. YE Commons and Peers, Was put to a stand, By the arms of our gracious Queen Anne. II. How his army so great, Had a total defeat, And close by the river Dender: Where his grandchildren twain, For fear of being slain, Gallop'd off with the Popish Pretender. III. To a steeple on high, The battle to spy, Up mounted these clever young men ;* They saw so much fire, Most cleverly came down again. IV. Then on horseback they got By advice of their cousin Vendosme, Would your brother and V. you were at home. While this he did say, Whose heels for that work, Were much lighter than cork, VI. Not so did behave * In the Dutch accounts of the battle of Oudenarde, it is said that the Dukes of Burgundy and Berry, with the Chevalier de St George, viewed the action at a distance from the top of a steeple, and fled, when the fate of the day turned against the French. Vendosme commanded the French upon that occasion. + The Electoral Prince of Hanover, afterwards George II. behaved with great spirit in the engagement, and charged, at the head of the Hanoverian cavalry, the celebrated French household troops with great success. In this bloody field I assure ye; But fought it on foot like a fury. VII. Full firmly he stood, As became his high blood, Which runs in his veins so blew: For this gallant young man, Being a-kin to QUEEN ANNE, Did as (were she a man) she would do. VIII. What a racket was here, We have drawn the puts in, To lose all they're worth this campaign. IX. Though Bruges and Ghent To Monsieur we lent, With interest they shall repay 'em; With her sorrowful king, Nunc dimittis instead of Te Deum. X. From this dream of success, They'll awaken we guess, At the sound of great Marlborough's drums, They may think, if they will, Of Almanza still, But 'tis Blenheim wherever he comes. |