Old Westminster Hall

Inscribed To The London Irish, London SCottish, Westeminster, And Other Rifle Corps That First Drilled IN Westminter Hall:



A toast I give, and proudly fill
A brimming glass with right good will
In mem'ry of our early drill
In old Westminster Hall, boys!
Beneath that roof of ample span
Uprose our regiment, man by man,
As squad by squad--(we thought it odd)--
We slow, or quick, or goose-step trod;
Or, keeping time, the flags we beat,
And rather glad to warm our feet,
For sometimes cold, if truth be told,
Was old Westminster Hall, boys!



Chor.
Fill it fairly--proudly fill
A brimming glass with right good will,
In mem'ry of our early drill
In old Westminster Hall, boys!


More fitly where could Britons stand,
In muster of a martial band,
To guard from foes their native land,
Than in Westminster Hall, boys?
For there did Norman tyrants hold
Their iron sway in days of old,
They play'd the fierce invaders' part,
And nearly broke the nation's heart;
A lesson that for ever be
To men who love their liberty--
No more invaders must we see
In old Westminster Hall, boys!



Chor.
Fill it fairly, &c.


'Tis there that Justice holds her seat,
'Tis there our Senate's call'd to meet,
And people free their Sov'reign greet,
Near old Westminster Hall, boys.
And near it stands that Abbey old
Where rest the gifted, wise, and bold:
A lesson is in every grave,
To guard the good our fathers gave,
They made us great--they left us free--
And so for ever let us be,
And sacred as Thermopylæ
Be old Westminster Hall, boys!