Mat Bowles

( The danger of fear, the value of freedom )
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah hoorah!

Of course, the anti-catholic/anti-popery vitriol is a little, well, disturbing by todays tastes (to say the least), but the fear of tyranny was well founded, if not actually as linked to catholicism as propagandists led the populace to believe. England's never really supported tyrants for too long, and we do tend to like a good party...
( The End of the Parliament? )