Poem by Samuel Lover

The Two Barrels

Song for the Rifle Volunteers of England:

There's a barrel I have in a corner so snug,
 Well charged with the best of good ale;
With a tankard of that how the time will slip by,
 With a pipe and a song, or a tale.
If a friend, just from over the way, should step in,
 He is hail'd with a hearty good cheer,
And never repents as he tastes the contents
 Of an Englishman's barrel of beer.
   
Chor.
And never repents, &c.

There's a barrel I have, but much stronger than beer
 Is the charge which for that I intend;
It hangs by the chimney, in readiness near—
 For I mean it my hearth to defend.
If a foe—just from over the way—should drop in,
 We'll meet him with three hearty cheers,
But I swear he repents when he tastes the contents
 Of the barrels of stout Volunteers.
   
Chor.
I swear he repents, &c.

And thus, double-barrell'd, my boys, let us live,
 Prepar'd for our friends or our foes;
The hand that in friendship we readily give,
 Is as ready, at need, to give blows.
And whether the spigot or trigger we draw,
 Our barrels won't fail us, I ween;
So tankards and rifles let's charge, hip hurra!
 For our Freedom, our Country, and Queen!
   
Chor.
So tankards and rifles, &c.

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