Convicts' song
November 20th, /797, at the departure from Bicetre to Bre.st. From the Memoirs of Eugene- Francois Vidocq, 1828, translated by Rayner Heppenstall.
You can have these chains, But if you don't want them It doesn't matter
We're dressed in red.
Instead of a hat we wear
A cap, with no stock To hide our shirt frills.
We can't complain.
We're spoilt children, And it's only for fear of losing- us That they keep us chained up.
We shall do fine work In straw to say nothing of coir And put it up for sale Without paying shop duty.
People who visit the settlement Never leave without buying something, With the proceeds of their charity We wet our whistles.
When it's time for stuffing the gut, Ho, ho, lovely beans!
We don't like them, but they go down Just as fast as choice meats.
It would have turned out worse for us lf, like some pretty young fellows, They'd taken us off to be shortened At the Abbey of Mount-Unwilling.
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