Begone you proud landlord, I bid you adieu,
For the devil of one penny will I spend with you;
For the money I’ve got boys, I’ll take better care,
And I never will play the wild rover any more.
So now I’ll go home to my sweet loving wife,
In hopes to live happy all the days of my life;
From rambling and roving, I’ll take better care,
Unless poverty happens to fall to my share.
THE DIGGINS, O![66]
I’ve come back all skin and bone
From the diggins, O!
And I wish I’d never gone
To the diggins, O!
Believe me, ’tis no fun,
I once weighed fifteen stone,
But they brought me down to one,
At the diggins, O!
I thought a good home could be found
At the diggins, O!
But soon I found I got aground
At the diggins, O!
The natives came one day,
Burnt my cottage down like hay,
With my wife they ran away
To the diggins, O!
I built a hut with mud,
At the diggins, O!
That got wash’d away by flood,
At the diggins, O!
I used to dig, and cry
It wouldn’t do to die,
Undertakers charge too high
At the diggins, O!
I paid for victuals with a frown,
At the diggins, O!
Three potatoes half a crown,
At the diggins, O!
Sprats five shillings a dish,
If for Dutch Plaice you wish,
Two dollars buys that fish,
At the diggins, O!
A Crown a pound for Steaks,
At the diggins, O!
Ditto Chops, and no great shakes,
At the diggins, O!
Five “hog”[67] a small pig’s cheek,
If a herring red you’d seek,
One will keep you dry a week,
At the diggins, O!
Table beer two bob a quart,
At the diggins, O!
Get your eyes gouged out for nought,
At the diggins, O!
Five shillings a four pound brick,[68]
Butter a shilling a lick,
They never gives no tick,
At the diggins, O!