As old John_Bull³ was walking one morning free from pain,
He heard the Rose, the Shamrock and the Thistle to complain
An alteration must take place, together they did sing,
In the Corn_Laws¹ and the Poor_laws¹ and many another thing.

Chorus:  Conversing on the present time together they did range,
                 All classes through Great Britain now appear so very strange,
                 That England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales must quickly have a change.

The railroads through England have great depression made;
Machines of every kind has put a stop to trade;
The innkeepers are weeping, in grief and agony,
And the ostlers¹ swear they'll buy a rope and go felo-de-se.

The steamboats to old Beelzebub¹ the watermen¹ do wish;
They say they've nearly ruined them and drowned all the fish,
Of all the new inventions that we have lately seen,
There was none begun or thought upon when Betty¹ was the queen.

The Poor Law Bill now many say are arbitrary laws
But they are quickly going to alter now the first and second clause
The ninth and tenth and the thirty-first but the forty-third does say
Give old men and women beer and tea and half-a-crown² a day

Behold the well-bred farmer, how he can strut along;
Let a poor man do what'er he will, he's always in the wrong;
With labour hard and wages low he hangs his drooping head;
They wont allow him half enough to buy his children bread.

The farmer's daughters ride about, well-clad and pockets full,
With horse and saddle like a queen and boa like a bull;
In there hand a flashy parasol and on there face a veil,
And a bustle¹ seven times as big as any milking pail.

The nobles from the pockets of John Bull are all well paid;
Sometimes you'd hardly know the lady from the servant maid,
For now they are so very proud, silk stockings on their legs,
And every step they take you'd think they walked on pigeon's eggs.

The tradesman he can hardly pay his rent or keep his home;
The labourer has eighteen pence¹ a day for breaking stones, [Note 399.2]
In former days the farmer rode a donkey or a mule;
There never was such times before since Adam went to school.

No some can live in luxury while others weep and woe;
There's very pretty difference now and a century ago,
The world will shortly move by steam, it may appear so strange,
So you must now acknowledge that England wants a change.