This might be the original song. From Davidson's Universal Melodist, Vol. 1 (London: G. H. Davidson, 1853), page 206, where there is also musical notation for the melody line:

SUCH A BEAUTY I DID GROW

1. When I was a little boy,
Some twenty years ago,
I was the pride of mammy's heart.
She made me quite a show,
Such a beauty I did grow, did grow, did grow.
Such a beauty I did grow.

2. Straight hair I had and goggle eyes,
With such a roguish leer,
A broad flat nose turn'd up beside
A mouth from ear to ear;
Such a beauty I did grow, did grow, &c.

3. My mother prais'd my little charms,
And when she did me fill,
Lest she should spoil my mouth with spoons,
She fed me with a quill;
Such a beauty I did grow, did grow, &c.

4. But when I came to riper years,
And should have studied books,
I sat out at the kitchen-door,
A watching of the rooks;
Such a beauty I did grow, did grow, &c.

5. So elevated were my thoughts,
No wonder I look'd wise
When my sweet mouth was always open,
Catching of the flies;
Such a beauty I did grow, did grow, &c.

6. Abroad, to take the summer air,
Sometimes I us'd to go,�
The children, screaming, ran away,
And cried 'a bug-a-bo!'
Such a beauty I did grow, did grow, &c.

7. At mountebanks a candidate,
I beat them all dead hollow.
And thrice I won the gold-laced hat
By grinning thro' a collar;
Such a beauty I did grow, did grow, &c.

8. Now ladies, if you're smit in love,
I pray do not disguise,
But commend me to a handsome wife,
That in her pretty eyes
For a beauty I may go, may go, may go,
For a beauty I may go.