Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Now let us sing, long live the king! And Gilpin, long live he; And when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see!”
- Date
- 1782
- Local voice
- Poetic speaker · Narrator of “The Diverting History of John Gilpin”
Meaning of “Now let us sing, long live the king!…”
The narrator closes Gilpin’s chaotic runaway ride by converting the mishap into communal amusement and a playful wish to witness the spectacle again.
Where does it come from?
The Diverting History of John Gilpin, closing stanza, represented by Project Gutenberg #23753. This is comic narrator voice at the end of Cowper’s ballad, not a serious political statement despite the conventional “long live the king” flourish.
Why the local voice matters
The Diverting History of John Gilpin, closing stanza. The narrator ends the runaway-horse ballad with a comic celebratory flourish; it is intentionally humorous poetic narration.