Thomas Warren published thirty-two collections of catches, glees, etc. for the Catch Club in a thirty year period in the second half of the eighteenth century. This item is taken from the thirty-second such collection. The identities of both author and subject of the rhyme are unknown.

Lyrics: Anon

All people now, in your behalf,
Think of the fate of Sir John Calf.
O cruel death, more cunning than a fox,
That would not let this calf live
Til he became an ox.
O that he might have eaten
Both brambles and thorns,
And when he came to his father's years
He might have worn the horns.