It was probably also about this time that Winstanley composed the following much more lively piece, which is to be found in the Clarke Papers,[130:1] and which may here find a fitting place:
“THE DIGGERS SONG.
“You noble Diggers all,
stand up now, stand up now,
You noble Diggers all, stand up now,
The waste land to maintain, seeing Cavaliers
by name
Your digging do disdain and persons all defame.
Stand up now, stand up now.
Your houses they pull down, stand
up now, stand up now,
Your houses they pull down, stand up now;
Your houses they pull down to fright poor men
in town,
But the Gentry must come down, and the poor shall
wear the crown.
Stand up now, Diggers all!
With spades and hoes and plowes,
stand up now, stand up now,
With spades and hoes and plowes, stand up
now;
Your freedom to uphold, seeing Cavaliers are
bold
To kill you if they could, and rights from you
withhold.
Stand up now, Diggers all!
Their self-will is their law,
stand up now, stand up now,
Their self-will is their law, stand up now;
Since tyranny came in, they count it now no sin
To make a goal a gin, to starve poor men therein.
Stand up now, stand up now.
The Gentry are all round, stand
up now, stand up now,
The Gentry are all round, stand up now;
The Gentry are all round, on each side they are
found,
Their wisdom’s so profound to cheat us
of our ground.
Stand up now, stand up now.
The Lawyers they conjoin, stand
up now, stand up now,
The Lawyers they conjoin, stand up now;
To arrest you they advise, such fury they devise,
The devil in them lies, and hath blinded both
their eyes.
Stand up now, stand up now.
The Clergy they come in, stand
up now, stand up now,
The Clergy they come in, stand up now;
The Clergy they come in, and say it is a sin
That we should now begin our freedom for to win.
Stand up now, Diggers all!
The tithes they yet will have,
stand up now, stand up now,
The tithes they yet will have, stand up now;
The tithes they yet will have, and Lawyers their
fees crave,
And this they say is brave, to make the poor
their slave.
Stand up now, Diggers all!
’Gainst Lawyers and ’gainst
Priests, stand up now, stand up now,
’Gainst Lawyers and ’gainst Priests,
stand up now;
For tyrants they are both, even flat against
their oath,
To grant us they are loath, free meat and drink
and cloth.
Stand up now, Diggers all!
The club is all their law, stand
up now, stand up now,
The club is all their law, stand up now;
The club is all their law, to keep poor men in
awe;
But they no vision saw to maintain such a law.
Stand up now, Diggers all!
The Cavaliers are foes, stand
up now, stand up now,
The Cavaliers are foes, stand up now;
The Cavaliers are foes, themselves they do disclose
By verses, not in prose, to please the singing
boys.
Stand up now, Diggers all!