Miscellaneous writings of the late Dr. Maginn :: :: University of Virginia Library

Your leathèr bottle is used by no man
That is a hair's-breadth above a plowman;
Then let us gang to the Hercules pillars,
And there let us visit those gallant Iack swillers;
In these small, strong, sour, mild, and stale,
They drink orange, lemon, and Lambeth ale:
The chief of heralds there allows,
The Iack to be of an ancienter house.
And may his successors never want sack,
That first devised the long Leather Iack.

Then for the bottle, you cannot well fill it,
Without a tunnel, but that you must spill it;

275

'Tis as hard to get in, as it is to get out,
'Tis not so with a Iack, for it runs like a spout
Then burn your bottle, what good is in it,
One cannot well fill it, nor drink nor clean it;
But if it had been in a jolly Black Iack,
'Twould come a great pace, and hold you good tack.
And I wish his soul, &c.

He that's drunk in a Iack, looks as fierce as a spark,
That were just ready cockt to shoot at a mark;
When the other thing up to the mouth it goes,
Makes a man look with a great bottle nose;
All wise men conclude, that a Iack, new or old,
Tho' beginning to leak, is however worth gold;
For when the poor man on the way does trudge it,
His worn-out Iack serves him for a budget.
And I wish his heirs may never lack sack,
That first contrived the leather Black Iack.

When bottle and Iack stand together, fie on't,
The bottle looks just like a dwarf to a giant;
Then have we not reason the Iack for to choose,
For they can make boots, when the bottle mends shoes;
For add but to every Iack a foot,
And every Iack becomes a boot:
Then give me my Iack, there's a reason why,
They have kept us wet, they will keep us dry.
I now shall cease, but as I am an honest man,
The Iack deserves to be called Sir John.
And may they ne'er want, for belly nor back,
That keep up the trade of the bonny Black Iack.