RYGHTE EXCELLENTE SONG IN HONOUR OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE BOAR'S
HEAD, AT QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
_Tam Marti quam Mercurio._
I sing not of Rome or Grecian mad games.
The Pythian, Olympic, and such like hard names;
Your patience awhile, with submission, I beg,
I strive but to honour the feast of Coll. Reg.
Derry down, down, down, derry down.
No Thracian brawls at our rites e'er prevail,
We temper our mirth with plain sober mild ALE;
The tricks of Old Circe deter us from Wine:
Though we honour a boar, we won't make ourselves Swine.
Derry down, &c.
Great Milo was famous for slaying his Ox,
Yet he proved but an ass _in cleaving of blocks_:
But we had a hero for all things was fit,
Our Motto displays both his Valour and Wit.
Derry down, &c.
Stout Hercules labour'd, and look'd mighty big,
When he slew the half-starved Erymanthian Pig;
But we can relate such a stratagem taken,
That the stoutest of Boars could not _save his own Bacon_.
Derry down, &c.
So dreadful his bristle-back'd foe did appear,
You'd have sworn he had got the wrong _Pig by the ear_,
But instead of avoiding the mouth of the beast,
He ramm'd in a volume, and cried--_Græcum est_.
Derry down, &c.
In this gallant action such fortitude shown is,
As proves him no coward, nor tender Adonis;
No Armour but Logic; by which we may find,
That Logic's the bulwark of body and mind.
Derry down, &c.
Ye Squires that fear neither hills nor rough rocks,
And think you're full wise when you out-wit a Fox;
Enrich your poor brains, and expose them no more,
Learn Greek, and seek glory from hunting the Boar.
Derry down, &c.
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