(_From a Broadside._)
The stwons that built George Ridler's oven,
And thauy keum from the Bleakeley's Quaar;
And George he wur a jolly old mon,
And his yead it grawed above his yare.
One thing of George Ridler I must commend,
And that wur vur a notable theng;
He meud his braags avoore he died,
Wi' ony dree brothers his zons should zeng.
There's Dick the Treble and John the Mean,
(Let ev'ry mon zeng in his auwn pleace)
And George he wur the elder brother,
And therevoore he would zeng the Beass.
Mine Hostess' moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell),
A pretty wench, and I loved her well;
I loved her well, good reazun whoy,
Because zhe loved my dog and I.
My dog is good to catch a hen,
A duck or goose is vood vor men;
And where good company I spy,
O thether gwoes my dog and I.
My mother told I when I wur young,
If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot,
That drenk would pruv my auverdrow,
And meaak me vear the thread bare cwoart.
My dog has gotten sich a troick,
To visit moids when thoiy be zick;
When thoiy be zick and loik to die,
O, thether gwoes my dog and I.
When I have dree zixpences under my thumb,
O, then I be welcome wherever I keum;
But when I have none, O then I pass by,
'Tis poverty pearts good company.
If I should die as it may hap,
My greauve shall be under the green yeal tap;
In voulded earmes there wool us lie,
Cheek by jowl, my dog and I.
The foregoing is a very famous old Gloucestershire ballad, corrected
according to the fragments of a MS. found in the Speech-house of Dean
several centuries ago, and used to be sung at the meetings of the
Gloucestershire Society, a charitable institution held at the Crown and
Anchor in the Strand.
Both these ballads are literally copied from the Broadsides.