1751 (est.)
When Popish Jemmy Ruled the Land
| Tune: | The Vicar of Bray |
| Lyrics: | Unknown |
When Popish Jemmy rul’d this Land,
He rul’d it like a King, Sir.
And bloody Jeffereys went about
Hanging and Jibbeting, Sir.
The Warreners prickd up their Ears;
That was a Time of Grace, Sir.
Game-Laws and Justices were made,
And Rabbets bred apace, Sir!
They cover’d all our Common Ground
Or soon would do, no doubt, Sir:
But now, whilst George the Second reigns,
We’l pull the Vermin out, Sir.
If little Squires should spoil our Sport,
We’l make the Marplots fly, Sir,
The Warrener and all his Gang,
Rabbets and Popery, Sir!
This is the second of two songs taken from The Charnwood Opera, a play organised by a local rural community in protest at enclosure. This four-verse protest makes expert use of its tune ‘The Vicar of Bray’ to evoke the twisting tricks over time of enclosers, and it combines a familiar nostalgia for better days with bellicose defiance, threatening violence against the despotic local landowners it ridicules as ‘little Squires’.
| Cause: | Collectivist |
| Theme: | Impact of Change | Freedoms | Environment |
| Addressed to: | The People |
| Target of Protest: | Aristocracy |
| Proposal/Solution: | Civil Disobedience |