1809.2
Glee
“John Bull”
The Morning Chronicle (January 27, 1809)

In the New Tragedy of "Much Ado About Nothing."

Tune—Sigh no more ladies.

Sigh no more, JOHNNY, sigh no more;
    Mad were these Statesmen ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
    To one thing constant never.

        Then sigh not so,
        But let them go,
    And be thou blithe and bonny,
Converting all thy sounds of woe
    Into—hey JOHNNY, JOHNNY!

Send no more armies, send no mo'
    To join the Spanish levy,
But let thy crazy Statesmen go,[1]
    That loss will not be heavy.
        Then sigh not so,
        But let them go,
    And be thou blithe and bonny,
Converting all thy sounds of woe
    Into—hey JOHNNY, JOHNNY!

Notes

1. The reference is to the convention of Cintra (August 30, 1808) which allowed the French armies to leave Spain and carry along booty. The terms of the Convention raised such an outcry in Britain that no one would claim responsibility for it.