Bellowhead sing A-Begging I Will Go

I've got no tax to pay and I heed no master's bell
Who would be a king when a beggar does so well?

And a-beggin' I will go
And a-beggin' I will go

The Song of the Lower Classes - sung by Martin Carthy

The writer, Ernest Jones, stood unsuccessfully as a Chartist MP in 1847, was arrested in 1848 and was sentenced to two years of solitary confinement. From 1851 on, he started publishing a weekly magazine, Notes to the People, in which this song was published in March 1852.

Down down we go, we are so low
To the hell of the deep sunk mine
But we gather the proudest gems that glow
When the crown of the despot shines

Whenever he lacks, upon our backs
Fresh loads he deigns to lay
We're far too low to vote the tax
But not too low to pay