Purcell's music generally was much admired, and the music to "Lilli Burlero," which was the name of the song, must have been "taking" and a good tune to march to, for the words themselves would scarcely have had such a momentous result. It was a long time before it died out in the country districts, where we could remember the chorus being sung in our childhood's days. A copy of the words but not the music appeared in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry:
Ho! broder Teague, dost hear de decree?
Lilli burlero, bullen a-la—
Dat we shall have a new deputie,
Lilli burlero, bullen a-la.
Chorus:
Lero lero, lilli burlero, lero lero, bullen a-la,
Lero lero, lilli burlero, lero lero, bullen a-la.
Ho! by Shaint Tyburn, it is de Talbote:
Lilli burlero, bullen a-la—