As I lay slumbering in a dream
Methought the world most strangely went
The bayliffs on high seats was seen
Which caused the poor’s great discontent
They plucked true justice from its throne
Creating laws made of their own
Burdened the poor till they made them groan
And that’s the cause the land complains

Methoughts a mighty hunting match
Was made by bayliffs and their curse
Poor men the deer they strove to catch
And hang them in a room of furs
The suburbs round us was their park
The bayliffs got the dogs to bark
Our homes was packed like Noah’s Ark
And thats the cause that the land complains

That’s the Cause that The Land
That’s the cause that the land complains
They’ll swear before they'll ever lack,
They’ll go to hell a pick-a-pack
Send poor debtors to the rack
And that’s the cause that the land complains

When I awakened from my dream
Methoughts the world turned upside down
So in great haste I writ this Theme
For the Bayliffs Dogs of our town
Who for their prey each hour do wait
Like death at every poor man’s gate
And brings him to a dismal fate
And that’s the cause that the land complains

The tallyman, curmudgeon keeps
A bayliff and his dog to bite
If in their books we ever creeps
They quickly swear they’ll have their right
Who gets enticed by these Bumms
Who swear they ne’er will pay their sums?
The poor in flocks to the jailor comes
And that’s the cause that the land complains

That’s the Cause &c.

Ten groat’s the fees, and a crown the arrears
And three round noughts for a writ beside
Thus laws are broke, poor men appear
Such racking torments they abide
And while the prisoner sends for bail
They tope the brandy, beer and ale
And make him pay or they have him to jail
And that’s the cause that the land complains


For twenty shillings, ten or five
They’ll put a man to cursed charge
To send him to jail they’ll soon contrive
Where other bills are writ out large
The jail fees all are bound to rue
The garnish, bed and turn-key too
Expects an unexpected due
And that’s the cause that the land complains

That’s the Cause &c.

Your Moore Field mobs and Whetstone Whores
Has bayliffs and their dogs for friends
When lustful youth pays Venus scores
Those sponging pimps the house attends
If cullies fight in a drunken fit
Away goes Tory’s dog for a writ
Thus many falls in the Bayliff’s pit
And thats the cause that the land complains

Thus to conclude and end the song
And put us in a land content
We must put right what’s been put wrong
And justice find our parliament
I hope true reason pleads our cause
While we’re creating wholesome laws
To keep us from these Bayliff’s claws
And cease the poor of the land’s complaints

That’s the Cause &c.