 | Little John And The Giants |  |
SCENE II.
Jillian Justice forcibly brought in by Rumbo and Blunderbore.Jill.
Help, countrymen!—your timely aid I pray—
Or Justice is undone, forever and a-day!
Jack.
The cry of Justice!—then 'tis time to draw
The mighty sword of Gideon and the Law.
[Draws.
Galigantus drops his Wand, and his Brothers quit Jillian, and stand amazed.
Galig.
A sudden gripe arrests my heart—
A chillness runs through all my veins, and freezes every part!
Jack.
Here, seize these caitiffs!—bind them, without favour,
To strange society—a good behaviour!
[Giants seized.
Jill.
To Goodness, Justice ever knew
The Rod of Power alone was due!
[She takes up the Golden Wand and delivers it to Jack.
Nurse, give me up those implements intrusted,
To have all wrongs redress'd, all rights adjusted!
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As Kindness to your Country shall decide!
Gives him a pair of gilt gloves, fastened together by a chain; a pair of gilt spurs, fastened in like manner; and a gorgeous collar, with a rope at the end of it.
Jack.
First, with these manacles, in this good hour,
We bind the struggling hand of Ill-Used Power.
Here, fix them on.—
[Chief Beggar takes the Gloves, fits them on, and sings.
AIR XLVIII.
Tune. “Tip ta lera”Ch. Beg.
These gauntlets we understand,
From annals time out of mind,
Have given due weight to each hand
Of the bruisers of mankind.
From annals time out of mind,
Have given due weight to each hand
Of the bruisers of mankind.
Still apt to his occupation,
Whom no restriction awes;
Whose courage would cuff a nation,
And quell both land and laws.
Whom no restriction awes;
Whose courage would cuff a nation,
And quell both land and laws.
Still apt, &c.
As Violence is rash, and swift in speed,
Let these restraining fetters be his meed!
On with them, firm.
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AIR XLIX.
Tune. “Ye Commons and Peers.”Ch. Beg.
I.
Behold, from old times,Through all customs and climes,
A prize to Ambition allied!
'Tis a gift, my good sirs,
For him, who wants Spurs
On the Back of his Country to ride.
Toll de rol, &c.
II.
No vaulter from France,With parade and with prance,
With the curvets of him can compare,
Thus accoutred in sight
Of the mob, who has right
To a dance on the stately Dun Mare—
Dol de rol, &c.
CHORUS.
To a dance on the stately, &c.
Last, o'er his brothers, to the public eye,
Let All-defrauding Wrong be raised on high!
Here is the patent for his exaltation—
Ambition could not wish a higher station.
Ch. Beg.
Your marrow-bones—come down, sir;
[To Blund.
That we may reach to quip you for renown, sir.
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AIR L.
Tune. “Old Roger.”Ch. Beg. shews the Collar, while he sings the first verse; and, during the second, the other Beggar sits it on.
Ch. Beg.
I.
Sir, here is the zone—Dil diddle dum, &c.
By whose virtues alone,
Dol, &c.
Deservers are known,
Dol. &c.
To look down on a throne.
Dol, &c.
II.
Within the fair round,Dol diddle dum, &c.
Such magic is found,
Dol, &c.
You bid, with one bound,
Dol, &c.
Adieu to the ground!
Dol, &c.
Up friend, along!—
Blund.
I would it were to dinner—
Mercy, sweet people, on a grievous sinner!
1st Shep.
Bless us from such an end of honest labours!
Who would have thought they look'd so little, neighbours?
Jill.
Iò triumphè! Glory and renown
To Jacky, who has pull'd the Giants down!
Give all your caps and voices to his day—
May Goodness still be great!
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Huzza, huzza, huzza!—
Ch. Beg.
Look, look, my friends, in Jacky's faithful hand,
Already this is quite another wand—
The rod with which great Moses cleft the sea,
And with his people passed from Bonds away!
A Twig, e'er Adam list'ned to his wife,
Pluck'd from the tree of Paradise and Life!
AIR LI.
Tune. “Ye Fairy Elves that be.”I.
Jack.Arise, arise, arise,
Each shape, and sort, and size,
Of Honesty, where ye lie
Unheeded on dank or dry;
From cottages, sheds, and steds, to Court,
My Brothers of Worth and Want resort!
Arise to labour, arise to play,
For Virtue dawns a new-born day!
CHORUS.
Arise to labour, &c.
II.
To Court, to Court, repair,
Tho' destitute poor and bare;
And yet unskill'd in aught
That Euclid or Machiavel taught—
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A garb, beyond the silk of Tyre;
And every talent, and every art,
Is furnish'd in an Upright Heart!
CHORUS.
And every talent, &c.
III.
Let Jollity e'en devour
His interval of an hour;
Yet pity his transient roar,
For list—and he laughs no more!
The purest pleasures that Guilt can bring,
Is like the tickling of a sting—
The tickling leaves no sweet behind;
The sting remains, and stabs the mind!
CHORUS.
The tickling leaves, &c.
IV.
But Virtue, in the breast,
Composes her Halcyon nest,
And sooths and smooths each storm
That would the fair seat deform;
Herself most frolick, and sweetly free,
To cordial jollity cordial glee,
The fountain of all that's blest and bright,
Of orient pleasure, of orient light!
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The fountain, &c.
V.
And from this Mental Dawn,
O'er village, and lake, and lawn,
New Radiance shall expand,
To lighten a dusky land;
And Truth, from this Approving Stage,
Shall beam through every act and age!
CHORUS.
And Truth, from this Approving Stage,
Shall beam through every act and age!
| Little John And The Giants | |