[“He had gone among the men, and they said that they were perfectly comfortable. as did also the women, in fact one woman, who had been the round of all the workhouses, said she liked to visit Lambeth because it was tho most pleasant of them all.”—Mr. Rhodes in Lambeth Vestry on “A Night in a Workhouse.”]
From Union to Union oft over all London,
I’ve wandered, and workus with workus compared,
And which I have always found things well at one done.
At others nor that owsomedever I fared.
From Poplar to Fulham I’ve all the way trudged it,
For wot I sez is by experence you learns.
Each one in its turn avin’ tried it and judged it,
I arter all fondly to Lambeth returns.
’Tis there they allows yer the stiffest of skilley.
The warmest and thinnest appearauce of broth
The water is there for your bath willv-nilly.
Your rug is the thickest and laist fousty cloth.
Your toke there’s a little more ’azy to swaller
Than anywheres else are a hunk o’ dry bread;
And they gi’s yer most ay for to lie in and waller
At Lambeth, when you got to sleep in the shed.
The winter winds elsewhere owls snmmut more wilder.
And causes wuss draughts to come in through the chinks.
The coughs and colds likewise at Lambeth is milder.
And so is the cussin and swearin, I thinks.
So wen the last drop is sucked out o’ the bottle.
And I harn’t a copper to buy no more gin.
And got nuffin left for to raisen my throttle,
I goes back to Lambeth and there gets took in.
Related Material
- The Poor Law and Workhouses (sitemap)
- The workhouse and poor law in Victorian and earlier art (sitemap)
- Cartoons about Poverty and Starvation in Fun, one of Punch’s Rivals
- Depictions of Bumble, the Parish Beadle from Oliver Twist and other Beadles
Bibliography
“The Pleasantest of Workhouses.” Punch, the London Charivari. (27 January 1866): 34. Hathi Trust Digital Library online version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 5 June 2020.
Last modified 5 June 2020