Alexander Brome: Collected Lyrics
13 / 77
Public-domain lyrics

A Song to the Tune of The Queens old Souldier

Alexander Brome

“A Song to the Tune of The Queens old Souldier” as printed in Rump Songs (1662).

Alexander Brome: Collected Lyrics Text 13 1662 · historical text
Public domainPolitical songHistorical song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from Rump Songs, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

To make Charles a great King, and give him no

Power,

To Honour him much, and not obey him an Hower;

To provide for his Safety, and take away his Tower,

And to prove all is sweet, be it never so sower.

The new Order of the Land, & the Lands new Order.

Verse 2

To secure men their Lives, Liberties and Estates

By arbitrary Power, as it pleaseth the Fates

To take away Taxes, by imposing great Rates,

And to make us a Playster by breaking our Pates.

The new Order of the Land, & the Lands new Order.

Verse 3

To sit and consult for ever and a day,

To counterfeit Treason by a Parliamentary way,

To quiet the land by a tumultuous sway,

New Plots to devise, then them to betray.

The new Order, &c.

Verse 4

To leave all Votes free by using of Force.

That one make Petitions for Counties by course,

To make Pym as great as his Mothers great Horse,

Which William left Agnus, though his meaning was worse.

The new Order, &c.

Verse 5

To encourage good Souldiers by cashiering the Band,

To hearten brave Spirits by expelling the Land,

To quit Digby and Deering, whom they can’t understand.

To frame not new Laws, but new Words, if well scan’d.

The new Order, &c.

Verse 6

To put by brave Doctors, because th’are not taught,

To set for Preachers men, very well wrought,

Who all the day fish, but nothing ere caught;

This, Bretheren, were good, if not very naught.

The new Order, &c.

Verse 7

To send men their Zealots to Heaven in a string,

Who else to Confusion Religion will bring,

Who say the Lords Prayer is a Popish thing,

Who pray for themselves, but leave out their King.

The new Order of the Land, and the Lands new Order.

Credits

Written by Alexander Brome

Words by Alexander Brome. Historical text published in Rump Songs (1662); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

Rump Songs (1662), “A Song to the Tune of The Queens old Souldier”

This 1662 collection (Rump: or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs Relating to the Late Times, 1639-1661) is credited to Alexander Brome (died 1666); every contributor died more than 330 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide, and the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-26. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
Keep tracing

More from Alexander Brome: Collected Lyrics.

01A CommitteePublic-domain lyrics02A Curtain LecturePublic-domain lyrics03A Dialogue between two Zealots upon the &c. in the OathPublic-domain lyrics04A Loyal Subjects OathPublic-domain lyrics