I took the purse and hemmed and bowed, And called for gin punch for the crowd; And when the second bowl was done, I called, ’Let’s have another one.’ Si’s wife come in and sipped and sipped (As women will) till she was pipped. And Si hit Dicky Twot a clouter Because he put his arm about her; But after Si got overtasked She sat and kissed whoever asked. My Doxy Jane was splashed by this, I took her on my knee to kiss. And Tom cried out, ’O damn the gin; Why can’t we all have women in? Bess Evans, now, or Sister Polly, Or those two housemaids at the Folly? Let someone nip to Biddy Price’s, They’d all come in a brace of trices. Rose Davies, Sue, and Betsy Perks; One man, one girl, and damn all Turks.’ But, no. ’More gin,’ they cried; ’Come on. We’ll have the girls in when it’s gone.’ So round the gin went, hot and heady, Hot Hollands punch on top of deady. Hot Hollands punch on top of stout Puts madness in and wisdom out. From drunken man to drunken man The drunken madness raged and ran. ’I’m climber Joe who climbed the spire.’ ’You’re climber Joe the bloody liar.’ ’Who says I lie?’ ’I do.’ ’You lie, I climbed the spire and had a fly.’ ’I’m French Suzanne, the Circus Dancer, I’m going to dance a bloody Lancer.’ ’If I’d my rights I’m Squire’s heir.’ ’By rights I’d be a millionaire.’ ’By rights I’d be the lord of you, But Farmer Scriggins had his do, He done me, so I’ve had to hoove it, I’ve got it all wrote down to prove it. And one of these dark winter nights He’ll learn I mean to have my rights; I’ll bloody him a bloody fix, I’ll bloody burn his bloody ricks.’ From three long hours of gin and smokes, And two girls’ breath and fifteen blokes’, A warmish night, and windows shut, The room stank like a fox’s gut. The heat and smell and drinking deep Began to stun the gang to sleep. Some fell downstairs to sleep on the mat, Some snored it sodden where they sat. Dick Twot had lost a tooth and wept, But all the drunken others slept. Jane slept beside me in the chair, And I got up; I wanted air.