The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #4614 Message #2147813
Posted By: Jim Dixon
12-Sep-07 - 07:56 PM
Thread Name: Origin: The Roast Beef of Old England (Fielding?)
Subject: Lyr Add: ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND
Here's what I found with Google Book Search:
From "The Works of Henry Fielding," 1903:
THE ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND Henry Fielding – from the play "Don Quixote in England," 1733
1. When mighty roast beef was the Englishman's food, It ennobled our hearts, and enriched our blood; Our soldiers were brave, and our courtiers were good:
CHORUS: Oh the roast beef of old England, And old England's roast beef!
2. Then, Britons, from all nice dainties refrain, Which effeminate Italy, France, and Spain; And mighty roast beef shall command on the main.
From "Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature":
"Richard Leveridge took Fielding's first [sic] verse, added others, and set the whole to music."
From "Parodies of the Works of English & American Authors" by Walter Hamilton, 1887:
THE ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND. (Richard Leveridge - first two verses by Henry Fielding)
When mighty Roast Beef was the Englishman's food, It ennobled our hearts, and enriched our blood; Our soldiers were brave, and our courtiers were good.
CHORUS: Oh! the Roast Beef of Old England, And, oh! for Old England's Roast Beef!
Then, Britons, from all nice dainties refrain, Which effeminate* Italy, France, and Spain; And mighty roast beef shall command on the main.
But since we have learnt from effeminate France, To eat their ragouts, as well as to dance; We are fed up with nothing but vain complaisance,
Our fathers of old were robust, stout and strong, And kept open house, with good cheer all day long, Which made their plump tenants rejoice in this song,—
When good Queen Elizabeth sat on the throne, Ere coffee and tea and such slipslops were known; The world was in terror if e'en she did frown,
In those days, if fleets did presume on the main, They seldom or never returned back again, As witness the vaunting Armada of Spain.
Oh! then we had stomachs to eat and to fight. And when wrongs were cooking, to set ourselves right,— But now, we're a—hum!—I could, but Good night,
This song was first printed complete in Walsh's "British Miscellany" about 1740. It was written and composed by Richard Leveridge, with the exception of the first two verses which were written by Henry Fielding, for a comedy entitled "Don Quixote in England." This piece was acted at the New-Theatre in the Haymarket, 1733.
*I assume "effeminate" here is a verb, and rhymes with "disseminate."