I would not lose our messing,
Though I must ride again.
Care killed a cat, remember that,
To-night enjoy your lunes:
Fairly fill, deeply swill,
Bellygerent Dragoons.
From Songs of the Edinburgh Troop. July, 1820. Edinburgh: James Ballantyne & Company. 1825.
A curious, and now very scarce little collection of songs relating to the Edinburgh Yeomanry Cavalry, which was privately printed, and afterwards suppressed. There were nine songs in all, of which this was the first, dating from July 1820 to July 1823; they were written jointly by John Gibson Lockhart and Patrick F. Tytler, author of The History of Scotland, &c.
In the article on Lockhart in The Maclise Portrait Gallery Mr. W. Bates mentions the brochure as being very scarce. The above song has been kindly sent by Mr. James Gordon, F.S.A., Scotland.
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