The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #114305   Message #2438002
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
12-Sep-08 - 12:08 AM
Thread Name: DTStudy: Drink Old England Dry
Subject: RE: DTStudy: Drink Old England Dry
A broadside at the Bodleian, no date but probably not long after 1800, is about the French drinking Old England dry. It is badly inked, I may give it another try later. Last three verses:

OLD ENGLAND DRY, (A new song called ...)
Harding B25(1403); Liverpool, S. Summersides.
First line- Come drink my brave boys ....

4
If that we meet with their ships on the ....,
I'll warrant you my boys, they shall have little ....
We'll take them, or sink, or cause them to fly,
Before they shall drink Old England dry.

5
Old England is loyal, as we understand,
They have rais'd the militia, likewise the train'd band (?)
With a strong resolution, King George to stand by,
Before they shall drink Old England dry.

6
So here's a good health to the Church, King and Crown,
And to all loyal subjects that pull the French down,
King George and his subjects will fight till they drop
Before they shall drink Old England dry.

Verse 2 starts "The French they are for landing in Ireland ...",
the next "The French are for landing in England ..."