When

When I was a bachelor

I lived by myself;

And all the bread and cheese I got

I laid up on the shelf.

The rats and the mice

They made such a strife,

I was forced to go to London

To buy me a wife.

The streets were so bad,

And the lanes were so narrow,

I was forced to bring my wife home

In a wheelbarrow.

The wheelbarrow broke,

And my wife had a fall;

Down came wheelbarrow,

Little wife and all.