FROM UHLAND. “Da liegen sie alle, die grauen Hohen.” The cold gray hills they bind me around, The darksome valleys lie sleeping below, But the winds as they pass o’er all this ground, Bring me never a sound of woe! Oh! for all I have suffered and striven, Care has embittered my cup and my […]

Il etait un roi d’Yvetot, Peu connu dans l’histoire; Se levant tard, se couchant tot, Dormant fort bien sans gloire, Et couronne par Jeanneton D’un simple bonnet de coton, Dit-on. Oh! oh! oh! oh! ah! ah! ah! ah! Quel bon petit roi c’etait la! La, la. Il fesait ses quatre repas Dans son palais de […]

I. For the sole edification Of this decent congregation, Goodly people, by your grant I will sing a holy chant– I will sing a holy chant. If the ditty sound but oddly, ‘Twas a father, wise and godly, Sang it so long ago– Then sing as Martin Luther sang, As Doctor Martin Luther sang: “Who […]

There was a king of Yvetot, Of whom renown hath little said, Who let all thoughts of glory go, And dawdled half his days a-bed; And every night, as night came round, By Jenny, with a nightcap crowned, Slept very sound: Sing ho, ho, ho! and he, he, he! That’s the kind of king for […]

ANOTHER VERSION. There was a king in Brentford,–of whom no legends tell, But who, without his glory,–could eat and sleep right well. His Polly’s cotton nightcap,–it was his crown of state, He slept of evenings early,–and rose of mornings late. All in a fine mud palace,–each day he took four meals, And for a guard […]

With pensive eyes the little room I view, Where, in my youth, I weathered it so long; With a wild mistress, a stanch friend or two, And a light heart still breaking into song: Making a mock of life, and all its cares, Rich in the glory of my rising sun, Lightly I vaulted up […]

Je viens revoir l’asile ou ma jeunesse De la misere a subi les lecons. J’avais vingt ans, une folle maitresse, De francs amis et l’amour des chansons. Bravant le monde et les sots et les sages, Sans avenir, riche de mon printemps, Leste et joyeux je montais six etages, Dans un grenier qu’on est bien […]

Aux gens atrabilaires Pour exemple donne, En un temps de miseres Roger-Bontemps est ne. Vivre obscur a sa guise, Narguer les mecontens; Eh gai! c’est la devise Du gros Roger-Bontemps. Du chapeau de son pere Coiffe dans les grands jours, De roses ou de lierre Le rajeunir toujours; Mettre un manteau de bure, Vieil ami […]

When fierce political debate Throughout the isle was storming, And Rads attacked the throne and state, And Tories the reforming, To calm the furious rage of each, And right the land demented, Heaven sent us Jolly Jack, to teach The way to be contented. Jack’s bed was straw, ’twas warm and soft, His chair, a […]

Dear LUCY, you know what my wish is,– I hate all your Frenchified fuss: Your silly entrees and made dishes Were never intended for us. No footman in lace and in ruffles Need dangle behind my arm-chair; And never mind seeking for truffles, Although they be ever so rare. But a plain leg of mutton, […]

Persicos odi Puer, apparatus; Displicent nexae Philyra coronae: Mitte sectari, Rosa qua locorum Sera moretur. Simplici myrto Nihil allabores Sedulus, curo: Neque te ministrum Dedecet myrtus, Neque me sub arcta Vite bibentem.

* Untrue to my Ulric I never could be, I vow by the saints and the blessed Marie, Since the desolate hour when we stood by the shore, And your dark galley waited to carry you o’er: My faith then I plighted, my love I confess’d, As I gave you the BATTLE-AXE marked with your […]

Your Fanny was never false-hearted, And this she protests and she vows, From the triste moment when we parted On the staircase of Devonshire House! I blushed when you asked me to marry, I vowed I would never forget; And at parting I gave my dear Harry A beautiful vinegarette! We spent en province all […]

Where the quivering lightning flings His arrows from out the clouds, And the howling tempest sings And whistles among the shrouds, ‘Tis pleasant, ’tis pleasant to ride Along the foaming brine– Wilt be the Rover’s bride? Wilt follow him, lady mine? Hurrah! For the bonny, bonny brine. Amidst the storm and rack, You shall see […]

When the moonlight’s on the mountain And the gloom is on the glen, At the cross beside the fountain There is one will meet thee then. At the cross beside the fountain; Yes, the cross beside the fountain, There is one will meet thee then! I have braved, since first we met, love, Many a […]

The Pope he is a happy man, His Palace is the Vatican, And there he sits and drains his can: The Pope he is a happy man. I often say when I’m at home, I’d like to be the Pope of Rome. And then there’s Sultan Saladin, That Turkish Soldan full of sin; He has […]

Dear Jack, this white mug that with Guinness I fill, And drink to the health of sweet Nan of the Hill, Was once Tommy Tosspot’s, as jovial a sot As e’er drew a spigot, or drain’d a full pot– In drinking all round ’twas his joy to surpass, And with all merry tipplers he swigg’d […]

When moonlike ore the hazure seas In soft effulgence swells, When silver jews and balmy breaze Bend down the Lily’s bells; When calm and deap, the rosy sleep Has lapt your soal in dreems, R Hangeline! R lady mine! Dost thou remember Jeames? I mark thee in the Marble All, Where England’s loveliest shine– I […]

Some love the matin-chimes, which tell The hour of prayer to sinner: But better far’s the mid-day bell, Which speaks the hour of dinner; For when I see a smoking fish, Or capon drown’d in gravy, Or noble haunch on silver dish, Full glad I sing my ave. My pulpit is an alehouse bench, Whereon […]

Before I lost my five poor wits, I mind me of a Romish clerk, Who sang how Care, the phantom dark, Beside the belted horseman sits. Methought I saw the grisly sprite Jump up but now behind my Knight. And though he gallop as he may, I mark that cursed monster black Still sits behind […]