The note on the Broadsheet, beneath the title, claims that this song was sung at the theatre in Lincoln. After some considerable searching I have been unable to discover who Mr Adamson was, or why this song was performed at the Theatre.
City of Lincoln Waites
Cocky and the Bull, or The Downfall of Boney
Sung at the Theatre, Lincoln, by Mr Adamfon.
The "Bull" is a representation of England. John Bull, the personification of England and the English, was a fictitious character invented by Dr. John Arbuthnot, the Scottish writer, mathematician and physicist, for the five political pamphlets he wrote in 1712. Arbuthnot wrote the pamphlets in support of propaganda for the new Tory administration. The Tory's strongest priority was to bring about the end of the Spanish Wars of Succession. That fight had been raging for ten years and was becoming very costly to Britain and her allies. In this song, the idea of "John Bull" is applied to a more recent battle. The Napoleonic Wars started some 86 years after Arbuthnot's pamphlets were first printed. In the song, Napolean Bonaparte is referred to as "Cocky".
As for working out the date of this song - it is unlikly to have been performed in Lincoln before the early 19th century. The Napoleonic Wars began in 1799 and ended in 1815.
- My hearties now fil up your porter pots full,
- And if that I please you, let me have a pull,
- A story I'll sing of a Cock and a Bull,
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- On the edge of a field was inclos'd a farm yard,
- With barley well stor'd, but to get there was hard,
- For a ditch ran all round, and a Bull was its guard,
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- A greedy gut cock, t'other side of the ditch,
- Kept eyeing this farm, tarough a mifchievious itch,
- His craw with some good barley corns to enrich,
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- This Cock was a savage, of Corsican breed,
- An insolent upstart, without any heed
- Wherever he choose he wou'd crow and he'd feed,
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- He had beat all his neighbours, which made him so proud,
- That henceforth he very uncivilly vow'd
- Within the Bull's farm yard to feed and crow loud,
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- So spreading his wings he attempted to fly,
- But some brisk Water Fowl in the ditch did him spy,
- And to pluck both his wings with each other did vie,
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- As strange luck would have it, 'scap'd from 'em all,
- (Tho' with great lofs of feathers they did him fo maul)
- And at length on dry ground he made shift for to crawl,
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- Taking courage, he strutted without more ado,
- To the gate of the farm, but the Bull came in view,
- And terrifi'd Cocky with roaring out BOO!
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- He would fain have fled back, but the Bull was to quick,
- And prefenting his horn on the top did him stick,
- Then perch'd him aloft and thus shew'd him a trick,
- Sing fal de ral la, &c.
- He flutter'd and fcream'd there a while as he stuck,
- Till the Bull from his horn in the ditch did him chuck,
- Where soon he was drown'd - this last was his luck,
- That such was the end of proud Cocky,
- And such was proud Cocky's juft end.