The verse is reminiscent of the Charles Dibdin song, "Natty Sam," which he composed about 1790. A broadside at Bodleian Library.

NATTY SAM
(Charles Dibdin)

A tinker I am,
My name's Natty Sam,
From morn to night I trudge it,
So low is my estate,
My personal estate
Lies all within this budget.

2
The man of war,
The man of the bar,
Physicians priests free thinkers,
That rove up and down,
Great London town,
What are they all but tinkers.

3
Those 'mong the great,
Who tinker the state,
And badger the minority,
Pray what's the end,
Of their work, my friend,
But to rivit a good majority.

4
This minds his name,
That cobbles his fame,
That tinkers his reputation,
And thus had I time,
I could prove in rhyme,
Jolly tinkers of all the nation.

1792, J. Evans, London, Harding B 12(65)