Dives and Lazarus is a traditional English folk song that in one form or another may date from around 1550. It is listed as Child ballad 56, and at some stage became linked to a beautiful tune that has also been used for other songs, such as ‘The Star of the County Down’, and which inspired one of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s finest pieces of music, ‘Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus’. 

The story is a punchy retelling of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus as found in Luke 16-19 to 16-31. The doctrine of charity towards the poor is one of Christianity’s more appealing teachings, even if in practice the Church has sometimes seemed more interested in acquisition than in redistribution, and of course as Zakat it is also one of the Five Pillars of Islam. One assumes, though the question may be a complex one, that Christian teaching played a significant role in the foundation of the modern welfare state, that for all its flaws surely remains one of the twentieth century’s great social achievements. Of course, it is tempting to hear the ghost of Norman Tebbit in the background muttering ‘On your bike, Lazarus’, but let us in this case make the charitable assumption that Lazarus did not have a bike.

Dives And Lazarus

As it fell out upon a day
Rich Dives made a feast,
And he invited all his friends
And gentry of the best.

Then Lazarus laid him down and down
And down at Dives’ door:
Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,
Bestow upon the poor.

Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,
That lies begging at my door;
No meat nor drink will I give thee
Nor bestow upon the poor.

Then Lazarus laid him down and down
And down at Dives’ wall:
Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,
Or with hunger starve I shall.

Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,
That lies begging at my wall;
No meat nor drink will I give thee
But with hunger starve you shall.

Then Lazarus laid him down and down
And down at Dives’ gate:
Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,
For Jesus Christ his sake.

Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,
That lies begging at my gate;
No meat nor drink will I give thee
For Jesus Christ his sake.

Then Dives sent out his merry men
To whip poor Lazarus away;
They had no power to strike a stroke
But flung their whips away.

Then Dives sent out his hungry dogs
To bite him as he lay;
They had no power to bite at all
But licked his sores away.

As it fell out upon a day
Poor Lazarus sickened and died;
Then came two angels out of heaven
His soul therein to guide.

Rise up, rise up brother Lazarus,
And go along with me;
For you’ve a place prepared in heaven
To sit on an angel’s knee.

As it fell out upon a day
Rich Dives sickened and died;
Then came two serpents out of hell
His soul therein to guide.

Rise up, rise up brother Lazarus,
And go with us to see
A dismal place prepared in hell
From which thou cannot flee.

Then Dives looked up with his eyes
And saw poor Lazarus blest:
Give me one drop of water, brother Lazarus,
To quench my flaming thirst.

Oh had I as many years to abide
As there are blades of grass,
Then there would be an end, but now
Hell’s pains will ne’er be past.

Oh was I now but alive again
The space of one half hour;
Oh that I had my peace secure;
Then the devil should have no power.

Anon