From the Bodleian Library Ballad collection, Firth b.27(319):


A GOOD CUP OF TEA

AIR—Jenny Put the Kettle On.

1. When our hearts are o'erladed with sorrow and grief,
And joy from our presence doth flee,
Methinks of all comforts the warmest and chief
Is surely a good cup of tea.

2. When health and when pleasure delighteth the heart
And we dance with a soul full of glee,
Though the waltz and the polka their pleasures impart,
We'll pause for a good cup of tea.

3. When sickness and pain find their way to our hearts—
And who can expect to be free?—
Oh! one of the things most valued on earth
Just then is a good cup of tea.

4. Ere we start in the morning to travel by rail
Or by steam take a trip to the sea,
No perfume e'er wafted on Araby's gale
Smells then like a good cup of tea.

5. At the end of our journey—too early for bed,
Yet bored by the demon Ennui,
How our spirits return—how our languor hath fled—
When refreshed by a good cup of tea.

6. How hard must the toil-doomed artisan strive
Ere his home humblest comforts can see;
Yet he gratefully owns he has none will revive
His strength like a good cup of tea.

7. When hour after hour the poor poet doth sit
With the paper still blank on his knee,
"The spirit that moveth him" into the fit
May come with a good cup of tea.

8. Quaff the wine-cup who may, there's delight in the draught,
But for ills it, alas, is not free.
I yield it, though long and though loud be the laugh,
For a wholesome and good cup of tea.