1.
I loved no king in forty-one,
When prelacy went down;
A cloak and band I then put on,
And preached against the crown.
Chorus:
A turncoat is a cunning man
That cants to admiration,
And prays for any king, to gain
The people’s approbation.
2.
I showed them paths to heaven untrod,
From popery to refine ’em,
And taught the people to serve God,
As if the devil were in ’em.
Chorus
3.
When Charles returned into our land,
The English church supporter,
I shifted oft my cloak and band,
And so became a courtier.
Chorus
4.
The king’s religion I professed,
And found there was no harm in’t;
I cogged and flattered like the rest
Till I had got preferment.
Chorus
5.
I taught my conscience how to cope
With honesty or evil,
And when I railed against the pope,
I sided with the devil.
Chorus
6.
When royal James began his reign,
And mass was used in common,
I shifted off my faith again,
And then became a Roman.
Chorus
7.
I orders took i’th’ Church of Rome,
And read the declarations,
And proved that all the world must come
To transubstantiation.
Chorus
8.
His Holiness the pope to please,
By the Lord’s assistance,
To bring in popery with more ease,
I preached up nonresistance.
Chorus
9.
Our prince of Wales was soon betrayed,
And then the headstrong rabble
Grew angry with the child, and made
The devil rock the cradle.
Chorus
10.
When cause grew sick, and king grew tame,
I fell from priest to pagan,
Just as the Belgic lion came
To quell the Romish dragon.
Chorus
11.
When William had possesed the throne,
And cured the nation’s grievance,
New principles I then put on,
And swore to him allegiance.
Chorus
12.
And now preach up king William’s right;
Pray for his foes’ confusion,
And shall remain a Williamite,
Till another revolution.
Chorus