Living

Let the Bells Ring, and Let the Boys Sing

by John Fletcher 1576–1625

From Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1889)

Living

Let the bells ring, and let the boys sing,
The young lasses skip and play;
Let the cups go round, till round goes the ground;
Our learned old vicar will stay.

Let the pig turn merrily, merrily, ah!

And let the fat goose swim;
For verily, verily, verily, ah!

Our vicar this day shall be trim.

The stewed cock shall crow, cock-a-loodle-loo,
A loud cock-a-loodle shall he crow;
The duck and the drake shall swim in a lake
Of onions and claret below.

Our wives shall be neat, to bring in our meat
To thee our most noble adviser;
Our pains shall be great, and bottles shall sweat,
And we ourselves will be wiser.

We'll labour and swink, we'll kiss and we'll drink,
And tithes shall come thicker and thicker;
We'll fall to our plough, and get children enow,
And thou shalt be learned old vicar.

MLA

Fletcher, John. “Let the Bells Ring, and Let the Boys Sing.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/fletcher_j/37/.

Chicago

Fletcher, John. “Let the Bells Ring, and Let the Boys Sing.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/fletcher_j/37/.

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