The First Foot Guards
We are a Revolutionary War
reenactment group based in Boston MA,
accurately portraying the royal household regiment that is now known as
The Grenadier Guards
A fine fpeech
as deliver'd with gufto
by Captain Kone
at Harborfest 2001
in Bofton Towne,
and much relifh'd by the foldiery.
Recruiting Speech from
Nottinghamshire, 1796
I will
lead you into a country
Where rivers consist of nut-brown ale,
Where the houfes are built of hot roaft beef,
And the wainfcots papered with pancakes.
There, my boys, it rains plum-pudding every Sunday morning,
The ftreets are paved with quartern loaves,
And nice roafted pigs run about,
With knives and forks ftuck in them, crying out,
"Who will eat me? Who will eat me?
The Authorized Version:
To all
afpiring heroes bold
Who have fpirits above flavery and trade
And inclinations to become gentlemen
By bearing arms in
His Majefty's Firft Regiment
of Foot Guards
Ably commanded by the magnanimous Lord Middleborough.
Let them repair to the drum head (tow-row-dow)
Where each gentleman volunteer fhall be kindly and honourably entertained
And enter into prefent pay & good quarters.
Befides which, gentlemen,
For your further and better encouragement
You fhall receive one guinea advance
And a crown to drink His Majefty King George's health.
And when you come to join your refpective Regiment
Shall have new hats, capps, arms, cloaths, and accoutrements
And every thing that is necefsary and fitting
To compleat a gentleman foldier.
God save their majesties
And fuccefs to their arms!
Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!
The format used above was
comonplace and formulaic, being used bt Crown Forces andcRebels alike.
In the following newspaper clipping, you will see the same wording in a plea
to tars to join the crew of the privateer 'Deane'...
Transcription of the text...
An invitation to all brave
Seamen and Marines, who have an inclination to serve their Country and make
their Fortunes.
The grand Privateer Ship DEANE
Commissioned by ELISHA HINMAN, Esq; and prov'd to be a very capital Sailor,
will sail on a Cruise against the Enemies of the United States of America, by
the 10th instant. The DEANE mounts thirty Carriage Guns, and is excellently
well calculated for Attacks, Defence and Pursuit --- This therefore is to invite
all those Jolly fellows, who love their Country, and want to make their Fortunes
at one stroke, to repair immediately to the Rendezvous at the Head of His Excellency
Governor Hancock's Wharf, where they will be received with a hearty welcome
by a Number of Brave Fellows there assembled, and treated with that excellent
Liquor call'd GROG, which is allow'd by all true Seamen, to be the LIQUOR OF
LIFE.
The ship is presumably named for Silas Deane
of Connecticut, statesman and Ambassador to France before Benjamin Franklin.
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