Songs, comic and satyrical :: :: University of Virginia Library

Ye hardy Sons of Honour's Land,
Where Freedom Magna Charta plann'd,
Ye Sovereigns of the Sea;
On ev'ry shore where salt tides roll,
From East to West, from Pole to Pole,
Fair Conquest celebrates your Name,
Witness'd aloud by wond'ring Fame,
When! when will you be free?

Mistake me not, my Hearts of Oak,
I scorn with Liberty to joke,
Ye Sovereigns of the Sea:
No right I blame, I praise no wrong,
But sing an independent song,—
Since Ministers must be withstood,
And Patriots are but flesh and blood,
I dare with both be free.

While strange told tales from scribblers' pen,
Disturb the heads of honest men,
Ye Sovereigns of the Sea;
The trash of temporizing slaves,
Who earn their daily bread as knaves.
Heedless which side may rise or fall,
The ready money—that's their all.
Such fellows can't be free.

We meet for mirth, we meet to sing,
And jolly join—God save the King!
Ye Sovereigns of the Sea;
As honest Instinct points the way,
Our King, our Country, we obey;
Yet pay to neither side our court,
But Liberty in both support,
As men who should be free.

104

Assist, uphold your church and state,
See great men good, and good men great;
Ye Sovereigns of the Sea;
Shun Party, that unwelcome guest,
No tenant for a Briton's breast;
Forget, forgive, in Faction's spite,
Awe all abroad, at home unite,
Then, then, my friends, you're free.

Ye Sov'reigns of wide ocean's waves,
To heroes long enshrin'd in graves,
A Requiem let us sing;
I Alfred, Henry, Edward name,—
Then William, our deliverer came:—
May future ages Brunswick own,
Perpetual heir to England's throne,
So here's God save the King.