A CHARITY BALL—Dancing for the Million. ]
Let others sing of times to come— Of joys that never will! My song shall be of days gone by: So, boys, a bumper fill To the good old times! oh, the good old times! Their like we ne'er shall see: The world was full of honest hearts, And life went merrily.
In the days of youth, when all was flowers, And ev'ry month was May, And my spirits were light as the thistle down And my heart was always gay, I loved a fair and gentle maid With all the constancy That a mutual flame in youth can inspire: But, alas! she jilted me. Oh, the good old times! the good old times Their like we ne'er shall see: The world was full of honest hearts, And life went merrily.
Friends of to-day, how vain are they! The partners of an hour, That fortune gathers round a man, As sunshine wakes the flow'r. _My_ friend and I, in infancy, Play'd 'neath the same old tree: One home was ours for long, long years, Till my friend arrested me. Oh, the good old times! the good old times! Their like we ne'er shall see: The world was full of honest hearts, And life went merrily.
My country's cause was always mine— Britannia, ocean's bride!— A patriot's name my dearest boast, A patriot's heart my pride. My leader was "the people's friend;" 'Twas thus he gain'd my vote: But they put him on the pension list, And _the patriot_ turn'd his coat. Oh, the good old times! the good old times! Their like we ne'er shall see: The world was full of honest hearts, And life went merrily.
'Twas then I felt that honour dwelt In noble ancestry; That still in high and gentle blood Some secret virtues lie. My champion now I joy'd to hear Rail at the parvenu: But I soon found _him_ on the Civil List— With his wife and cousins too. Oh, the good old times! the good old times! Their like we ne'er shall see: The world was full of honest hearts, And life went merrily.
Disgusted with the city's vice I to the country sped. A simple husbandman, my life 'Mid flocks and herds I led. The livelong day I'd pipe and play, Or on some thyme-bank sleep: But at night they broke into my folds, And stole my cows and sheep. Oh, the good old times! the good old times! Their like we ne'er shall see: The world was full of honest hearts, And life went merrily.