Come all ye airy bachelors, a warning take by me
Give over your wild ramblin’ and shun bad company.
I lived happy as a prince, when I was in the North.
And the first of my misfortunes was to list in the Black Horse.

Now it being of a Thursday morn to Galway I did go,
Meeting with a small officer which proved my overthrow;
I met with Sergeant Atkinson in the market going down,
And says he: “Young man, would you enlist to be a Light Dragoon?”

“Oh no, kind sir, a soldier’s life with me would not agree,
Nor neither will I bind myself down from my libertie.
I live contented at my ease, my mind does tell me so,
So fare thee well, I’m just going down my shuttle for to throw.”

“So are you in a hurry now or are you going away,
Or won’t you stand and listen to those words I’m going to say;
Or do you live far from this place, the same I’d wish to know,
Your name, kind sir, now if you please, give me before you go?”

“Oh, then, I am in a hurry, and my dwelling is not far,
My place of habitation lies six miles behind Armagh;
Charles Egan is my name, from Armagh town I came
I ne’er intend to do a crime that I should deny my name.”

He says: “Now Cousin Charlie, perhaps you might do worse,
Now leave your native counterie and list in the Black Horse”;
And with all his kind persuasiveness with him I did agree,
And I left my native country, boys, and fought for libertie.

Farewell unto my father, dear, likewise my sisters three,
Farewell unto my mother, her kind face I ne’er will see;
As I ride down through Armagh town, they all run in my mind
So farewell unto my country, boys, and the girl I left behind.