The Cavalier Songs and Ballads of England from 1642 to 1684 · Chapter 90Old Jemmy
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From a “Collection of 180 Loyal Songs,” written since 1678. This is a parody on the Whig song, “Young Jemmy is a lad that’s royally descended,” written in celebration of the Duke of Monmouth. Old Jemmy is the Duke of York, afterwards James II.
To the tune of “Young Jemmy.”
Old Jemmy is a lad Right lawfully descended; No bastard born nor bred, Nor for a Whig suspended; The true and lawful heir to th’ crown By right of birth and laws, And bravely will maintain his own In spight of all his foes.
Old Jemmy is the top And chief among the princes; No Mobile gay fop, With Birmingham pretences; A heart and soul so wondrous great, And such a conquering eye, That every loyal lad fears not In Jemmy’s cause to die.
Old Jemmy is a prince Of noble resolutions, Whose powerful influence Can order our confusions; But oh! he fights with such a grace No force can him withstand, No god of war but must give place When Jemmy leads the van.
To Jemmy every swain Does pay due veneration, And Scotland does maintain His title to the nation; The pride of all the court he stands, The patron of his cause, The joy and hope of all his friends, And terror of his foes.
Maliciously they vote To work Old Jemmy’s ruin, And zealously promote A Bill for his undoing; Both Lords and Commons most agree To pull his Highness down, But (spight of all their policy) Old Jemmy’s heir to th’ crown.
The schismatick and saint, The Baptist and the Atheist, Swear by the Covenant, Old Jemmy is a Papist: Whilst all the holy crew did plot To pull his Highness down, Great Albany, a noble Scot Did raise unto a crown.
Great Albany, they swear, He before any other Shall be immediate heir Unto his royal brother; Who will, in spight of all his foes, His lawful rights maintain, And all the fops that interpose Old Jemmy’s York again.
The Whigs and zealots plot To banish him the nation, But the renowned Scot Hath wrought his restoration: With high respects they treat his Grace, His royal cause maintain; Brave Albany (to Scotland’s praise) Is mighty York again.
Against his envious fates The Kirk hath taught a lesson, A blessing on the States, To settle the succession; They real were, both knight and lord, And will his right maintain, By royal Parliament restored, Old Jemmy’s come again.
And now he’s come again, In spight of all Pretenders; Great Albany shall reign, Amongst the Faith’s defenders. Let Whig and Birmingham repine, They show their teeth in vain, The glory of the British line, Old Jemmy’s come again.