Sweet beef that now causes my stomach to rise, Sweet beef that now causes my stomach to rise, So taking thy sight is, My joy, that so light is, To view thee, by pailfuls runs out of my eyes. While here I remain my life's not worth a farthing, While here I remain my life's not worth a farthing, Ah! hard-hearted _Lewy_, Why did I come to ye? The gallows, more kind, would have saved me from starving. RECITATIVE. Upon the ground hard by poor Sawney sate, Who fed his nose and scratched his ruddy pate; But when old England's bulwark he descried, His dear lov'd mull, alas! was thrown aside. With lift'd hands he blest his native place, Then scrubb'd himself, and thus bewailed his case: AIR. How hard, O Sawney, is thy lot, Who was so blithe of late, To see such meat as can't be got, When hunger is so great. O the beef, the bonny bonny beef, When roasted nice and brown, I wish I had a slice of thee, How sweet it would gang down! Ah, Charley! had'st thou not been seen, This ne'er had hapt to me; I would the de'il had pick'd mine e'en Ere I had gang'd with thee. O the beef, etc. RECITATIVE. But see my muse to England takes her flight, Where health and plenty cheerfully unite; Where smiling Freedom guards great George's throne (And chains, and racks, and tortures are not known), Whose fame superior bards have often wrote, An ancient fable give me leave to quote: AIR. As once on a time a young frog pert and vain, Beheld a large ox grazing over the plain, He boasted his size he could quickly attain. O the roast beef of Old England, And O the Old English roast beef! Then eagerly stretching his weak little frame, Mamma, who stood by like a knowing old dame, Cried, 'Son, to attempt it you're greatly to blame.' O the roast beef, etc. But deaf to advice, he for glory did thirst, An effort he ventur'd more strong than the first, 'Till swelling and straining too hard, made him burst. O the roast beef, etc. Then, Britons, be valiant, the moral is clear, The ox is Old England, the frog is Monsieur, Whose puffs and bravadoes we never need fear. O the roast beef, etc. For while by our commerce and arts we are able To see the sirloin smoking hot on our table, The French may e'en croak, like the frog in the fable. O the roast beef, etc.