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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PROPERTIES OF THE SHIRES OF ENGLAND by ANONYMOUS

First Line: THE PROPERTE OF EVERY SHIRE
Last Line: SAVE ALL THESE SHIRES. AMEN SAY I
Subject(s): ENGLAND; ENGLISH;
The properte of every shire
I shall you tell, and ye will hear.
Herefordshire shield and spear:
Worsetshire wring pear.
Gloucetershire shoe and nail:
Bristowe ship and sail.
Oxenfordshire gird the mare:
Warwykshire bind bere.
London resortere:
Sowtherey great bragere.
Esex full of good hoswifes:
Middlesex full of strives.
Kentshire hot as fire:
Sowseke full of sirt and mire.
Hertfordshire full of wood:
Huntingdonshire corn full good.
Bedfordshire is nought to lack:
Bokinghamshire is his make.
Northamptonshire full of love
Beneath the girdle and not above.
Lancastreshire fair archere:
Chestreshire thwakkere.
Northumbreland hasty and hot:
Westmorland [tot for sote!]
Yorkshire full of knights:
Lincolnshire men full of mightes.
Cambridgeshire full of pikes:
Holond full of great dykes.
Norfolk full of wiles:
Southfolk full of stiles.
I am of Shropshire my shins be sharp:
Lay wood to the fire, and dress me my harp.
Notinghamshire full of hogs:
Derbyshire full of dogs.
Leicetershire full of beans:
Staffordshire full of queans.
Wiltshire fair and plain:
Barkshire fill the wain.
Hampshire dry and wete.
Somersetshire good for wheat.
Devenshire mighty and strong:
Dorseteshire will have now wrong.
Pinnokshire is not to praise:
A man may go it in two days.
Cornewaile full of tin:
Walis full of goote and kene.
That Lord that for us all did die
Save all these shires. Amen say I.




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