Context:

Location: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England (SK5741)
Year: 1796
Time of Occurrence: [Not given]
Collective Name: [Not given]

Source:

James Granger
OLD NOTTINGHAM : Its Streets, People, &c. : SECOND SERIES
Nottingham, Nottingham Daily Express Office, 1904, pp.59-60

Cast:

Text:

English Officer

I will lead you into a country
where the rivers consist of fine nut-brown ale -
where the houses are built of hot roast beef,
and the wainscots papered with pancakes.
There, my boys, it rains plum-pudding every Sunday morning,
the streets are paved with quartern loaves,
and nice roasted pigs run about
with knives and forks stuck in them, and crying out,
'Who will eat me? Who will eat me?'

Notes:

This satirical parody of a recruiting speech shares "Land of Cockaigne" motifs that are also found in some folk plays.

File History:

1995-01-19 - Entered by Peter Millington
1997-03-25 - File named by Peter Millington
2002-05-28 - Notes amended by Peter Millington
2021-01-15 - TEI-encoded by Peter Millington

Extras:

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Other Information

There may be more about this text at:
https://folkplay.info/resources/texts-and-contexts/recruiting-speech-1796.