Alexander Brome: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

The Good Old Cause

Alexander Brome

“The Good Old Cause” as printed in Rump Songs (1662).

Alexander Brome: Collected Lyrics Text 46 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

Now Lambert’s sunk, and valiant M———

Does ape his General Cromwell,

And Arthur’s Court, ’cause time is short,

Does rage like Devils from Hell;

Let’s mark the fate and course of State,

Who rises when t’other is sinking,

And beleive when this is past

’Twill be our turn at last

To bring the Good Old Cause by drinking.

Verse 2

First, red nos’d Nol he swallowed all,

His colour shew’d he lov’d it:

But Dick his Son, as he were none,

Gav’t off, and hath reprov’d it;

But that his foes made bridge of’s nose,

And cry’d him down for a Protector,

Proving him to be a fool, that would undertake to rule,

And not drink and fight like Hector.

Verse 3

The Grecian Lad, he drank like mad,

Minding no work above it

And Sans question kill’d Ephestion,

Because he’d not approve it;

He got command, where God had land,

And like a Maudlin Yonker,

When he tippled all and wept, he laid him down to sleep,

Having no more Worlds to conquer.

Verse 4

Rump-Parliament would needs invent

An Oath of Abjuration,

But Obedience and Allegiance are now come into fashion:

Then here’s a boul, with a heart and soul

To Charles, and let all men say Amen to’t,

Though they brought the Father down

From a triple Kingdom Crown,

Wee’l drink the Son up agen to’t.

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), “The Good Old Cause”

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.
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