GOG AND MAGOG. A GUILDHALL DUET.
Reading edition
MAGOG.
Why, Gog, I say, it’s after One, And yet no dinner carved; Shall we endure this sort of fun, And stand here to be starved?
GOG.
I really think our City Lords Must be a shabby set; I’ve stood here since King Charles’s time, And had no dinner yet!
MAGOG.
I vow I can no longer stay; I say, are we to dine to-day?
GOG.
My hunger would provoke a saint, I’ve waited till I’m sick and faint; I’ll tell you what, they’ll starve us both, I’ll tell you what, they’ll stop our growth.
MAGOG.
I wish I had a round of beef My hungry tooth to charm; I’ve wind enough in my inside To play the Hundredth Psalm.
GOG.
And yet they feast beneath our eyes Without the least remorse; This very week I saw the Mayor A feeding like a horse!
MAGOG.
Such loads of fish, and flesh, and fowl, To think upon it makes me growl!
GOG.
I wonder where the fools were taught, That they should keep a giant short! They’ll stop our growth, they’ll stop our growth; They’ll starve us both, they’ll starve us both!
MAGOG.
They said, a hundred years ago, That we should dine at One; Why, Gog, I say, our meat by this Is rather over-done.
GOG.
I do not want it done at all, So hungry is my maw, Give me an Alderman in chains, And I will eat him raw!
MAGOG.
Of starving weavers they discuss, And yet they never think of us. I say, are we to dine to-day; Are we to dine to-day?
GOG.
Oh dear, the pang it is to feel So mealy-mouthed without a meal!
MAGOG.
I’ll tell you what, they’ll stop our growth!
GOG.
I’ll tell you what, they’ll starve us both!
BOTH.
They’ll stop our growth, they’ll starve us both!