Ballad: Song To The Figure Two



From vol. ii. of the Roxburgh Ballads, in the British Museum.

A merry new song wherein you may view
The drinking healths of a joviall crew,
To t' happie return of the figure of TWO.

The figure of TWO is a palpable allusion to Charles II. Tune,
"Ragged, and torn, and true."


I have been a traveller long,
And seen the conditions of all;
I see how each other they wrong,
And the weakest still goes to the wall.
And here I'll begin to relate
The crosse condition of those
That hinder our happy fate,
And now are turned our foes.
Here's a health to the figure of TWO,
To the rest of the issue renown'd;
We'll bid all our sorrows adieu,
When the figure of TWO shall be crown'd.

I crossed the ocean of late,