Then, then, quaff it round,
No deceit in a brimmer is found;
Here's no swearing:
Beer and ale makes you prate
Of the Church and the State,
Wanting other discourse worth the hearing.

This strumpet your muse is, to ballad or flatter,
Or rail, and your betters with froth to bespatter,
And your talk's all dismals and gunpowder matter;
But we, while old sack does divinely inspire us,
Are active to do what our rulers require us,
And attempt such exploits as the world shall admire us.



Ballad: As Close As A Goose



By Samuel Butler. - (A.D. 1657.) This ballad ridicules the tender
of the Crown of England to Oliver Cromwell by Alderman Pack, M.P.
for London.


As close as a goose
Sat the Parliament-house,
To hatch the royal gull;
After much fiddle-faddle
The egg proved addle,