·THE HERITAGE OF
LITERATURE SERIES
General Editor: E. W. PARKER, MC.
A scrics that will icad to wider
horizons by awakening a love of
good books, and by providing a
key to thc trcasures of the world's
best thought.
TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE
ESSAYS AND BELLES LETTRES
DRAMA
FICTION
MYTHS AND FOLK LORE
HISTORY
LIFE AND LETTERS
POETRY

·The llerlage of
Literature Series
SICTTOV A NO 13
THE POETS WAY

·THE POETS' WAY
ST.CE I and STACE II
Stages I and II in one volume
THE POETS HARVEST
Being Stage III of
TILE POETS' WAT
THE POETS' COMPANY
COBITLITE EDITIOX
And in Tiro Paris
VOL. 1 THE POETS' COMPANY
10 TIJE XIXSITEIKTU CESTORY
VOL. II. MODERN POETRY
SERID TO SPENDEK

·THE POETS WAY
STAGE 1
SCHICTIS
EW PAPIER, SC
A. R VOOX, A.
LONGMANS, GREEX AND CO
LONDOY
TO
OR

·No text on this page.

·FOREWORD
IKE the magic carpet of the story books,
poetry can
ansport you from your fireside comer to lands afar,
o the scene of adventure and romance, or to the open
vad of the countryside at the spring of the year.
cforc poctry can give you these delights it must be
ad with enjoyment take your favourite poets and
it them be your companions. If it is adventure you
ant, poetry will give you all you desire. Without
nowing how it happened, you will soon be flying on
hat magic carpet to join the company of those who
cek high adventure
On your way you will discover that thc pocts are
ruc adventurers whose minds leap beyond the
sounds of carth and send us messages that words
alone cannot express
All men are pocts. but ſen can impart the feelings
that hcauty of every kind can awaken in their hearts
Listen in and attunc your hearing to their messages
and
will realize your own kinship with the poets
Many poems printed here have come down to us
Erom the past, somc from times so remote that those
who finst sang them arc unknown This is part of the
you

·FOREWORD
splendid heritage that is the birthright of all who
speak English. When you read the modern poems
in this book you will realize the continuity as well as
the richness of our heritage. These poets, already
deservedly famous, are with you in the quest of
adventure.
E.W.P.

·ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS T friends have offered useful sursations and criticisms and I uld like to focord my gratitude to them I am particularly cbled to Di Gurter for the generosity with which he has helped with Inendly criticism and advice. ty thuanis 11e due to the owner of the copyright poems and 1:ons of older poems that are reprinted in this collection Is flerbert Asquith for "The Elephant" from foems 1993-1993. Shished by Mesir Sidrick & Jackson Lid. Messrt George Bell Cong Led for the ballad "An Auld Wife Sat" from Fly Leaves CS Calverley, the representatives of Lewis Carroll and Means imillan k Co Ltd for "Some Hallucinations," being the mener's Song from Sylvie and Bruno, The Clarendon Press, ford, for * Preparations " from The Oxford Book of English se; Mr Jolin Davids and Mean John Lane The Daily Head for "A Runnable Stag" from Holiday, and Other Porms, r. Walter De la Mare for hu 1ersion of "There was a knight" m Come Wither, for "The Scarecrow" from The Lasteneri, and her forme, for "Nicholas Xe" from Poems 1901 1918 and for A Song of Enchantment" from Peacock Pre, published by Mesin mitable Co lid, and for "Tartary" from Songs of Child d. publube! by stesen Longmans, Green & Co Ltd, the vecutor of Thomas Hardy and Main Macmillan k Co Lid "Men Who Match Awar" from Collected rooms of Thomas ardy: Mairs tim Heinemann Led for the extract from "The Wirz ol the Swallow " from A C Swinburne's Tristram of 10nesse: Mis Maud harpelas und Messn Nonello k co ltd for rail Sharp'ı yetion of "The Gimmy Laddie" from Folk Songs of nalush Ongon Collected in the Southern Appalachians in itirard Kipling for "Puck's Song" from Puct of 'ook': mill by kurdrard Kipling. published by Alesso Macmillan & Co lid. Mi. ohn Maxfield for "The Wat Wind" and " Roadway from 213 oliected rooms published by Messn 15m Heinemann d. Mennt. Methuen k Co Lid for the versions of * The Spanish

·FOREWORD
splendid heritage that is the birthright of all who
speak English. When you read the modern poems
in this book you will realize the continuity as well as
the richness of our heritage. These poets, already
deservedly famous, are with you in the
adventure.
E.W.P.
quest of

·ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS avy trvs hare ofered excl 1995 and arms and I Lte sreord y 57231DCs to them 1. pirtxularly and to De Gunter for the percros. With & be bus bc.pmd * W Inendly on 2nd adrice, My Sarks ste ewe to the outers of the copre poco ard TL doces pornu that are reprinted in the 1.00 Mr. Jettet Amouth for "The Elephant * lroad rammy 1971 1933, 1: by Mean Scwick & Jaciyn Lad. Besni Cerone tel Ivo LH 14 the ballad "An All Wre St" from the Lorry CS Carrerler, che srprestitsing cl Lewis Carto!1 2:26 Slours Kl k Co ud for "Soose Haliciration, being de Cer's Scry from Sylsze Erzs The Crordnet P1051 Oslo, fue reparations " from The Oxford Look cf Engus Tex: Hr John Dassend Veust. fohn Lane The Parter lead LISA Kurze Staz" from Holiday, and One former Vi. 12:47 De la Mare for 1:3 veruien "Thate ka * Kargbr " Ta Come flater, in 'The Sorrow" from The Listereti. 4 Olt Forms. 1 Scholas Ives from formgione 1915d for frog unutarimer:" from Fearoci te. pab'sir bu rurs Cumble & Cn L14, and (or Tarun Irena Sorgo c! CA ***. rullen! by least Longers, Green & Co TXU) d 1. Blanda and Visusts Vacrollan & Co L. I**H *176 Stateh Awan (1on Coliriced rooms c! Tuomu Medy: 3569 fleretan Lid for the arc from The Vtbe swallow from A C Swinburter Instreff Imour, fist Masu Xarx's as tean loro co ud fer Eroid Sump's 71.0 d The Gray Laul Till Organ Cetirird in the Southern seitens un Dinard Kip 104 * fucks som troca fetch foods!! Du Fan Xp! posted bt Menno Black & Co US $ 15 Max!! 107** The la Hind 278 " Poocoon" from da Centrs forms published by Hours WA lun. Nachaca i Co L14 for the stucs * The Spezas

·FOREWORD
splendid heritage that is the birthright of all who
speak English. When you read the modern poems
in this book you will realize the continuity as well as
the richness of our heritage. These poets, already
deservedly famous, are with you in the quest of
adventure.
E.W.P.

·ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Viry friends have offered useful sustions and criticisms and 1 w lile to record my gratitude to them I am particularly & lo Di Gurrey for the generosity with which he has helped te with friendly criticism and advice. 3l Banks are due to the OWTIETS of the copyright poems and trucos folder poems that are reprinted in this collection Mr fierbert Ayaith for "The Elephant" from Poems 1979-193). bed by Nesens Sidwick & Jackson Lid , Messrs George Bell L2d for the ballad "An Auld Wife Sac" from Fly Leaves CS Calseries, the representatsves of Lewis Carroll and Messrs. illan k Co ud for "Some Ilallucinations," besog the Scnct's Song from Sylvie and Bruno. The Clasendon Press, td for "Preparations " from The Oxford Book of Engl... Mr John Dordson and Messrs John Lane The Bodlcy 11 of "A Runnabic Stay" from Holiday, and Other Poe alter De La Mare for his sersjon of " Tiere Was a Knight Come Isthet. for "The Scarecrow" from The Lasteners, as Obor Porri, forsicholas Nic" from Poems 1901 1958 and I A Song of Enchantment" from feacock Pre. published by Messrs orizatie & Co Lid , and for "Tartary" (rom Songs of Child hand, pobladal by sessss Longmans, Green & Co Lid, the Inreutons of Tomas Jardy and Messrs Macmillan & Co Lid. llen Wan March AXIY from Collected Poems of Thomas Ilmay. Meanim lleinemann Lid for the extract from "The ''; of the Swallow" from AC Swinburne's Trustram of your M. Maud Lameles and Messrs Nosello & Co Lid for nel Sharp's tension of "The Gipsy Laddie" from Folk Songs of .' Ongs Collected in the Southern Appalachians. Mrs *ara Riplan for "Puck's Song" from Puck of rook's Hall by Rand Kipling. published by Mesin Macmillan & Co Lid. Mr. 14 Yaxed for "The Host Wind" and " Roadways" from Cervino Porme published by Next Wm TIeisemann Lid; We Metroen Co Lid. for the versions of "The Spanish - ·ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 Armado and The Winning of Cales from The Sailor's Gar. land cdited by Mr. John Mascfield; Mr. Lloyd Osbourne for " Heather Alc from Pocons by R. L. Stevenson; Professor Sir Artur Quillcr-Couch (or “ Sage Counsel"; and Messrs. Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd. for “ The Blackbird," Moonlit Apples " and Thc Vagabond " from Collected Poems of John Drinkwater. 15 9.W.P.

·CONTENTS Pott 5 6 MANY ADI EXTURES WALTIR DE LA MIRZ The Serrriott MONAS FIXO Pun Direction AN OLD BD The Ile Ifeedlen Wurt 1 LA KIRI Tarlar SIEVITAT AVQEIN The Elshant AN OLD BALLAD The Three Racer mwind FMGEMID The Ballad of Jenny the Mare ALD IS TIcvetas Anight The llonour of a London Prentice 4 TOUK WONG 1 Carrion Crow Sal on an Oak mint sroWNYC Boot and Saddle A FOLK SONG The Gipsy Leddie 2X41415 H***IS BARITY The Jackdaw of Rhrimi trakt PROVING The Red Mper of Hamelin . AN DED KING Robin Goodfellow AVOITUS The fairy Queen I Warrier From " The foene Queene" 8 10 17 18 18 20 35 38 ·CONTENTS PAG. 43 45 AROUND OF SONGS ANONYMOUS London Bridge JOHN MASETTELD Roadways JOIN DRINKWATER The l'agabond AN OLD SONG The Old Cloak ANONYMOUS The Finc Old English Gentleman . A SEA CIANTY Leave Her, Johnny, Leove Her WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Song from Midsummer Night's Dream 46 48 . 50 FUN AND I RAY 59 'illiam. 54 . 55 WILLIAM The LEWIS You SIR ARTHI Sage LEWIS Somc CHARLES ! An A THOMAS I Faith LEWIS The WILLIAMS Listic 56 . . 57 59 62 RAY 68 THE COUN. WALTER D A Soi 65 ·Pagt . 66 67 68 . 69 . 71 73 . 74 75 . 76 CONTENTS JAMES TOGG A Boy's Song . WILLIAM WORDS WORTH From The Prelude" SIR WALTER SCOTT Allen-a-Dale WILLIAM HOWITT The 1Vind in a Frolic JOHN MASEFIELD The West TVind ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON The Brook WILLIAM BLAKE Night JOIN ORINKWATER Moonlit Apples HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW The TVindmill THIOMAS CAMPION Jack and Joan. JOHN KEATS Meg Afertiles. ROBERT FERRICK The Night Piece JOHIN DRINKWATER Blackbird ROBERT BURNS To a Field Mouse ANONYMOUS The Fox and the Former ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON The Goose WALTER DE LA MARE Nicholas Nye JOHN DAVIDSON A Runnable Stag PERCY BYSSIIZ SHELLEY The Cloud JOHN CLARE After Reading in a Letter Proposal for Building a Cottage . 77 . 78 Bo 80 ► 81 . 83 84 86 88 gi 9$ ·CONTENTS TALES OF LONG AGO TAGI 95 96 100 104 10. 107 $ 116 118 119 125 RUDYARD KIPLING Puck's song ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Heather Ale AXOXYNOUS Earl Nar's Daughter GEORGE WALTER THORNBURY The Danes AN OLD BALLAD The Twa Brothers. WILLIAM E. AYTOUN The Heart of the Bruce . THOMAS CAMPBELL Lord Ullin's Daughter ROBERT BURNS A Farewell OLD DAILLADS Robin Hood and Little John. Robin Hood and the widow's Three Sons JEAN INGELONY The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571 ANONYMOUS The Spanish Armado AN OLD BALLAD Mary Ambree. ANONYMOUS The IVinning of Cales Preparations. WINTUIROP MACKWORTIT PRAED Sir Nicholas at Marston Noor. GEORGE WALTER THORXBURY The Cavalier's Escape ANOXIOUS The Golden Vanity · ROBERT SOUTHLY The Inclicape Rock. CHIARIES KIXCSI.r.Y The Last Nuccancer xiy 129 136 138 145 6 148 150 152 154

·CONTENTS
· 156
THOM19 FIARDY
Men Who Afarch Away (1803)
ROBERT DROWNINO
Through the Metidja to Abd El Kadr
ALGERNON CHARLES SHINAURAL
From " Tristram of Lyonesse
157
.
159
INDEX OF AUTHORS
• 165
INDEX OF FIRST LINES
165

·No text on this page.

·CONTEYTS
THOMAS HARDY
Men l'ho March Away (1803)
ROBERT BROWNIC
Through the Meridja to Abd El-Kadr
ALGERSON CHARLES SHINEURNE
From "Tristram of Lyonesse'
.
156
157
• 159
INDEX OF AUTHORS
.
161
INDEX OF FIRST LINES
165

·No text on this page.

·MANY ADVENTURES
THE SCARECROW
All winter through I bow my head
Beneath the driving rain;
The North wind powders me with snow
And blows me blach again,
At midnight 'neath a maze of stars
I flame with glittering rime,
And stand, above the stubble, stiff
As mail at morning-prime.
But when that child, called Spring, and all
His host of children, come,
Scattering their buds and des upon
These acres of my home,
Some rapture in my rags
I lift void eyes and scan
The skies for croirs, those ravening foes,
Of my strange master, Man.
I watch him striding lank behind
His clashing team, and know
Soon will the wheat swish body high
Where once lay sterile snow;
Soon shall I gaze across a sea
Of sun-begotten grain.
Which my unfinching watch hath sealed
For harvest once again.
WALTER DE LA MARE
Ang
my rags awakes;
1

·MANY ADVENTURES A PLAIN DIRECTION 06 In London once I lost my way In faring to and fro, And asked a little ragged boy The way that I should go; He gave a nod, and then a wink, And told me to get there Straight down the Crooked Lane, And all round the Square." I boxed his little saucy cars, And then away I strode; But since, I've found that weary path Is quite a common road. Utopia is a pleasant place, But how shall I get there? "Straight down the Crooked Lane, And all round the Square." I've read about a famous town That drove a famous trade, Where Whittington walked up and found A fortunc ready made. The very streets are pared with gold; But how shall I Straight down the Crooked Lane, And all round the Square." The complce yersion of this pocin contains many satirical rentes that have nowadays lost their sting. get there?

·THOMAS HOOD I've read about a Fairy Land, In some romantic tale, Where Dwarfs, if good, are sure to thrive, And wicked Giants fail. My wish is great, my shoes are strong, But how shall I get there? "Straight down the Crooked Lane, And all round the Square." I've heard about a pleasant land, Where omelettes grow on trees, And roasted pigs run, crying out, "Come eat me, if you please." My appetite is rather keen, But how shall I get there? "Straight down the Crooked Lane, And all round the Square." THOMAS HOOD THE WEE WEE MAN As I was walking all alone Between a water and a wa', And there I spied a wee wee man, And he was the least that e'er I saw. His legs were scarce a shathmont's' length, And thick and thimber was his thigh; Berncen his brows there was a span, And between his shoulders there was three. 1 A distance of about six inches. Shath sectas to be connected with a Breton word meaning a span. Strong 3 ·MANY ADVENTURES a He took up mickle stone, And hc flung it as far as I could see; Though I had been a Wallace wight, I couldn't have lifted it to my knee, "O wee wee man, but thou art strong! O tell me where thy dwelling be.” "My dwelling's down at yon bonny bower; will you go with me and sce? On we leapt, and away we rode, Till we came to yon bonny green; We lighted down for to bait' our horse, And out there came a lady fine. Four and twenty at her back, And they were all clad out in green; Though the King of Scotland had been there, The worst o' them might ha' been his qucen. On we Icapt, and away we rode, Till we came to yon bonny hall, Where the roof was o' the bcaten gold, And the floor was o' the crystal all. When we came to the stair-foot, Ladies were dancing jimp’ and sma', -But in the twinkling of an eye My wee wee man was clean awa'. ANONYMOUR i Refresh. > Slim. 4

·WALTER DE LA MARE
TARTARY
If I were Lord of Tartary,
Myself and me alone,
My bed should be of ivory,
of bcaten gold my throne,
And in my court should peacocks flaunt,
And in my forest tigers haunt,
And in my pools great fishes slant
Their fins athwart the sun.
If I were Lord of Tartary,
Trumpeters every day
To every mcal should summon me,
And in my courtyard bray;
And in the evening lamps wouid shine
Yellow as honey, red as wine,
While harp, and fute, and mandoline,
Made music sweet and gay.
If I werc Lord of Tartary:
I'd wear a robe of beads,
White, and gold, and green
they'd be
And clustered thick as seeds,
And ere should wane the morning-star,
I'd don my robe and scimitar,
And zebras seven should draw my car
Through Tartary's dark glades.
Lord of the fruits of Tartary,
Her rivers silver-pale!
5

·MANT ADVENTURES Lord of the hills of Tartary, Glen, thicket, wood, and dale! Her flashing stars, her scented breeze, Her uembling lakes, like foamless seas, Her bird-delighting citron-trees In every purple rale! WALTER DE LA MARE THE ELEPHANT Here comes the elephant Swaying along With his cargo of children All singing a song: To the tinkle of laughter He goes on his way, And his cargo of children Have crowned him with may. His legs are in leather And padded his toes; He can root up an oak With a whisk of his nose; Vith a wave of his trunk And a turn of his chin He can pull down a house, Or pick up a pin. Bencath his grey forehead A littic eye peers; Of what is he thinking Betrecen those widc cars? 6

·HIERBERT ASQUITII
What does he feel?
If he wished to tease,
He could twirl his keeper
Over the trees;
If he were not kind,
He could play cup and hall
With Roliert and Helen
And Uncle Paul;
But that grey forehead,
Those crinkled cars
Have learned to be kind
In a hundred years:
And so with the children
He goes on his way
To the tinkle of laughter
And crowned with the may.
PIERBERT ASQUITI
TIIE THREE RAVENS
There ucre three ravens sat on a tree,
Downc a downc, hiny downe, hay downe,
There were thice ravens sal on a tree,
With a downe
There were three ravens sat on a tree,
They were as black as they might be.
t'ith a doune dersie, derne, derrie, downe,
downe.
The one of them said to his mate,
" Where shall we our breakfast take?"

·MANY ADVENTURES 16 45 "Downc in yonder grcenc field, There lies a knight slaine under his shield. · His hounds they lie down at his feete, So well they can their master keepe. "His haukes thcy fly so eagerly, There's no fowl dare come him nie." Downe there comes a falloir doe, As great with yonge as she might goe. She lift up his bloudy head, And kist his wounds that were so red. Shc got him up upon her backe, And carried him to earthen lake. She buried him before the prime, She was dead herself crecven-song time. God send every gentleman, Such haukes, such hounds, and such a lcman! ANONYMOUS THE BALLAD OF JENNY THE MARE I'll sing you a song, and a merry merry song, Concerning our Yorkshire Jen; Who nc'er yet ran with horse or mare, That ever she cared for a pin. When first she came to Newmarket town, The sportsmen all viewed her around; 8 ·EDWARD FTTZCERALD All the cry was, "Alas, poor wench, Thou never can run this groundi" When they came to the starting post, The Mare looked very smart; And let them all say what they will, She never lost her start. When they got to the two-mile post, Poor Jenny was cast behind: She was cast bchind, she was cast behind, All for to take her wind. When they got to the three-mile post, The Mare look'd very pale- SHE LAID DOUN TIER EARS ON CIFR BOXNY NEC, AND BY TUENT ALL. DID SHIE. SAIL. “Come follow mne, come follow mne, All you that run so neat, And ere that you catch me again I'll make you all to sweat." When she got to the winning-post, The people all gave a shout; And Jenny click'd up her lily-white foot, And juniped like any buck. The Jockey said to her, "This race you have run, This race for me you have got; You could gallop it all over again, When the rest could hardly tror! " EDWARD FITZGERALD 9 A ·MANY ADVENTURES THERE WAS A KNIGHT There was a knicht riding frae the east, Jennifer gentle an' rosemaree. Who had been wooing at monie a place, As the doo flies owre the mulberry tree. He cam' unto a widow's door, And speird whare her three dochters were. "The auldest ane's to a washing gane, The second's to a baking gane. "The youngest ane's to a wedding gane, And it will be nicht or she be hame.' He sat him doun upon a stane, Till thir three lasses cam' tripping hame. The auldest ane she let him in, And pinned the door wi' a siller pin. The second ane she made his bed, And laid saft pillows unto his head. The youngest ane was bauld and bricht, And she tarried for words wi' this unco knicht: Gin ye will answer me questions ten, The morn ye sall me make your ain: "O what is higher nor the tree? And what is dceper nor the sca? 64 10

·AXOSTHOUS
* Or what is heavier nor the lady
And what is better nor the bread?
"Or what is whiter nor the milk?
Or what is safter nor the silk?
"Or what is sharper nor a thom?
Or what is louder nor a horn?
"Or what is greener nor the grass?
Or what is saur nor a woman tas?
"O heaven is higher nor the trec,
And hell is deeper nor the sea.
"O sin is heavier nor the lead,
The blessings better nor the bread.
"The snak is whiter nor the milk,
And the down is safrer por the silk.
"Hunger is sharper nor a thom,
And shame is louder nor a hom.
"The pies are greener nor the grass,
And Cloorie's Faur nor a woman was."
As sune as she the fiend did name,
Jennifer gentle an' rosemarce,
He flew 3tra' in a blazing flame,
As the doo flies owe the mulberry tree.
ANONTUOUS
Clostic was a name for the Devil Cloot is a Scou word for

·MANY ADVENTURES
THE HONOUR OF A LONDON PRENTICE
Of a worthy London prentice
My purpose is to speak,
And tell his brave adventures,
Done 'for his country's sake:
Seek all the world about,
And you shall hardly find
A man in valour to exceed
A prentice' gallant mind.
He was born (and bred) in Cheshire,
The chief of men was he,
From thence brought up to London,
A prentice for to be.
A merchant on the bridge
Did like his service so,
That, for three years, his factor
To Turkey he should go.
And in that famous country
One year he had not been,
Erc he by cilt maintained
The honour of his
queen;
Elizabeth his princess
He nobly did make known,
To be the phenix of the world,
And none but she alone,
In armour richly gilded,
Well mounted on a steed,
12

·ANONYMOUS Onc score of knights most hardy One day he made to bleed; And brought them all to ground, Who proudly did deny Elizabeth to be the pearl Of princely majesty. The king of that same country Thereat began to frown, And will'd his son, there present, To pull this youngster down; Who, at his father's words, These boasting speeches said, " Thou art a traitor, English boy, And hast the traitor play'd." "I am no boy, nor traitor, Thy specches I defy, For which I'll be revenged Upon thee, by and by; A London prentice still Shall prove as good a man, As any of your Turkish Knights, Do all the best you can." And therewithal he gase him A box upon the ear, Which broke his neck asunder, As plainly doth appear. "Now know, proud Turk," quotes "I am no English boy, That can, with one small box o'c', The prince of Turks destroy." 13 ·MANY ADVENTURES When as the king perceived His son so strangely slain, His soul was sore afflicted, With more than mortal pain; And, in revenge thereof, He sword that he should die The cruel'st death that ever man Beheld with mortal eye. Two lions were prepared This prentice to devour, Near famish'd up with hunger, Ten days within a tower, To make them far more fierce, And cager of their prey, To glut themselves with human gore Upon this dreadful day. The appointed time of torment At length grew nigh at hand, Where all the noble ladies And barons of the land Attended on the king, To see this prentice slain, And buried in the hungry maws Of those fierce lions twain. Then in his shirt of cambric, With silk most richly wrought, This worthy London prentice Was from the prison brought, And to the lions given To staunch their hunger great, 14 ·ANONZALOUS Which had not eat in ten days' space Not one small bit of meat. But God, that knows all secrets, The matter so contrird, That by this young man's ralour They were of life depriv'd, For, being faint for food, They scarcely could withstand The noble force, and fortitude, And courage of his hand: For when the hungry lions Had cast on him their eyes, The elements did thunder With the echo of their cries: And running all annaio His body to devour, Into their throats he thrust his arms With all his might and pores: From thence, by manly sale, Their hearts he tore in men, And at the king he threr inom To all the people's wonde. *This have I done." qoraz "For lovely Englais, And for my country's Much more will come But when the king His fathful Emas Afflicted with His rigow som ·MANY ADVENTURES And turned all his hate into remorse and love, And said, "It is some angel, Sent down from heaven above." “No, no, I am no angel," The courteous young man said, "But born in famous England, Where God's word is obey'd; Assisted by the heavens, Who did me thus befriend, Or else they had, most cruelly, Brought here my life to end." The king, in heart amazed, Lift up his eyes to heaven, And, for his foul offences, Did crave to be forgiven; Believing that no land Like England may be seen, No people better governed, By virtue of a queen. So taking up this young man, He pardon'd him his life, And gave his daughter to him, To be his wedded wife. Where then they did remain, And live in quiet peace, In spending of their happy days. In joy and love's increase. ANONYM 16

·ANONYMOUS
AN OLD FOLK SONG
A carrion crow sat on an oak,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do.
Watching a tailor shape his cloak;
Sing heigh ho, the carrion crow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do.
Wife, bring me my old bent bow,
Fol de siddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do,
That I may shoot yon carrion crow;
Sing heigh ho, the carrion crow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do.
The tailor he shot and missed his mark,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do,
And shot his own sow through the heart;
Sing heigh ho, the carrion crow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do.
Wife, bring brandy in a spoon,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do,
For our old son is in a styoon;
Sing heigh ho, the carrion Crow,
Fol de riddle, lol de riddle, hi ding do.
ANONYMOUS

·MANY ADVENTURES BOOT AND SADDLE Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! Rescue my Castle, before the hot day Brightens to blue from its silvery grey, Boot, saddle, to llorse, and away! Ride past the suburbs, asleep as you'd say; Many's the friend there, will listen and pray "God's luck to gallants that strike up the lay- Boot, saddle, to horse and away.' Forty miles off, like a roebuck at bay, Flouts Castle Branccpeth the Roundheads' array: Who laughs, "Good fellows, cre this, by my fay, Boot, saddle, to horse, and away?" Who? My wife Gertrude; that, honest and gay, Laughs when you talk of surrendering, "Nay! I've better counsellors; what counsel they? Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!" ROBERT BROWNING THE GIPSY LADDIE It was late in the night when the Squire came home Enquiring for his lady. His servant made a sure reply: "She's gone with the gipsum Davy." Ratile tum a gipsum gipsum Rattle fum a gipsum Davy. 18 ·ANONYATOUS go catch up my milk-white steed, The black one's not so speedy, I'll ride all night till broad daylight, Or overtake my lady." He rode and he rode till he came to the town, He rode till he came to Barley. The tears came rolling down his cheeks, And then he spied his lady. "It's come go back, my dearest dear, Come go back, my honey; It's come go back, my dearest dear, And you never shall lack for money." "I won't go back, ту. dearest dear, I won't go back, my honey; For I wouldn't give a kiss from gipsum's lips For you and all your money." "It's go pull off those snow-white gloves, Amade of Spanish leather, And give to me your lily-white hand, And bid farewell for ever." It's she pulled off those snow-white gloves, A-made of Spanish leather, And bare to him her lily-white hand, And badc farewell for ever. She soon ran through her gay clothing, Her selvet shoes and stockingsi Her gold ring off lier finger's gone, and the gold plate off her bosom. 19 ·MANY ADVENTURES "O once I had a house and land, Feather-bed and money; But now I've come to an old straw pad With the gipsies dancing round me. ANONYMOUS THE JACKDAW OF RHEIMS The Jackdawr sat on the Cardinal's chair! Bishop and abhot and prior were there; Many a monk, and many a friar, Many a knight, and many a squire, With a great many more of lesser degreem- In sooth a goodly company; And they served the Lord Primate on bended knec. Never, I woen, was a prouder seen, Read of in books, or dreamt of in dreams, Than the Cardinal Lord Archbishop of Rheims! In and out, through the motley rout, That little Jackdaw kept hopping about; Here and there, like a dog in a fair, Over coinfits and cakes, and dishes and plates, Cowl and cope, and rochet and pall, Mitrc and crosier-he hopp'd upon alll With saucy air, he perch'd on the chair Where, in state, the great Lord Cardinal sat In the great Lord Cardinal's great red hat; And he pecr'd in the face of his Lordship's Grace, With a satisfied look, as if he would say, "We two are the greatest folks here to-day!” And the priests, with awe, as such freaks they saw, Said, "The Devil must be in that little Jackdaw!" 20 ·RICHARD HARRIS BARIAM The (cast was over, the board was clear'd, The flawns' and the custards had all disappear'd, And six little singing boys—dcar little souls- In nice clean faces, and nice white stoles, Camc, in order due, two by two, Marching that grand refectory through. A nice little boy held a golden ewer, Emboss'd and fill'd with water, as pure As any that flows between Rheims and Namur, Which a nice little boy stood ready to catch In a finc golden hand-basin made to match. Two nice little boys, rather more grown, Carried lavenderwater and eau-de-Cologne; And a nice little boy had a nice cake of soap, Worthy of washing the hands of the Pope. One little boy more a napkin bore, Of the best white diaper, fringed with pink, And a Cardinal's hat mark'd in "permanent ink." The great Lord Cardinal turns at the sight Of these nice little boys dress'd all in white: From his finger he drauss his costly turquoise; Jackdaws, of his plate, Eminence wait; Till, when nobody's dreaming of any such thing, That little Jackdaw hops off with the ring! There's a cry and a shout, and a deuce of a rout, And nobody seems to know what they're about, But the monks have their pockets turn'd inside out; 1 Cheese cakes. 21 ·MANY ADVENTURES The friars are kneeling, and hunting, and feeling The carpet, the floor, and the walls, and the ceiling. The Cardinal drew off each plum-colour'd shoe, And left his red stockings exposed to the view; He pceps, and he feels in the toes and the heels; They turn up the dishes,--they turn up the plates --- They take up the poker and poke out the grates, -They turn up the rugs, they examine the mugs: But nol-no such thing;-they can't find THE RING! And the abbot declared that, "when nobody twigg’d it, Some rascal or other had popp'd in, and prigg'd it!" The Cardinal rose with a dignified look, He call'd for his candle, his bell, and his book! And in holy anger, and pious grief, Hc solemnly cursed that rascally thief! Hc cursed him at board, he cursed him in bed; From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head He cursed him in sleeping, that every night He should dream of the devil, and wake in a fright He cursed him in eating, he cursed him in drinking He cursed him in coughing, in sneezing, in winkin He cursed him in sitting, in standing, in lying; He cursed him in walking, in riding, in flying, He cursed him in living, he cursed him in dying Nerer was heard such a terrible cursel But what gave rise to no little surprise, Nobody scem'd one penny the worse! The day was gone, the night came on, The monks and the friars, they search'd till dawn When the sacristan saw, on crumpled claw, Come limping a poor little lame Jackdaw! 22

·RICILAPD ILARRIS BARIAM
No longer gay, as on yesterday;
His fathers all seem'd to be turn'd the wrong way;
Ulis pinions droop'd-he could hardly stand, -
Flis head was as bald as the palm of your hand;
His eyes so dim, so wasted each limb,
That, heedless of grammar, they all cried, "TILAT'S
11MI
Tzat's the scamp that has done this scandalous thing!
That's the thief that has got my Lord Cardinal's Ringi"
The poor little Jackdaw, when the monks he saw,
Fechly gase vent to a ghost of a caw;
Till they came to the back of the belfry door,
Where the firse thing they sax, 'midst the sticks and
the straw,
Was the Ring in the nest of that little Jackdaw!
Then the great Lord Cardinal call'd for his book,
Ind off that terrible curse he took;
The mute expression served in lieu of confession,
And, being thus coupled with full restitution,
The jackdaw got plenary absolution!
When those sords were heard, that poor little bird
Was so changed in a moment, 'twas really absurd.
He greir sieck, and fat; in addition to that,
A fresh crop of feathers came thick as a mati
His tail waggled more even than before;
But no longer it wafg'd with an impudent air,
No longer he perch'd on the Cardinal's chair.
33

·MANY ADVENTURES He hopp'd now about with a gait devout; At Matins, at Vespers, he never was out; And, so far from any more pilfering deeds, He always seem'd telling the Confessor's beads. If any onc lied or if any one swore- Or slumber'd in prayer-time and happen'd to snore, That good Jackdaw would give a great "Caw! ” As much as to say, “Don't do so any more! ” While many remark'd, as his manners they saw, That they“ never had known such a pious Jackdaw!" He long lived the pride of that country-side, And, at last, in the odour of sanctity died; When, as words were too faint his merits to paint, The Conclave determined to make him a Saint! And on newly-made Saints and Popes, as you know, It's the custom, at Rome, new names to bestow, So they canonized him by the name of "Jiai Crow." THOMAS NGOLDSBY R. H. BARIAM THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN I Hamelin Town's in Brunswick, By famous Hanover city; The River Weser, decp and wide, Washes its walls on the southern side; A pleasanter spot you never spicd; But, when begins my ditty, Almost five hundred years ago, To sce the townsfolk suffcr so From vermin, was a pity. 24 ·ROBEXT ERONXTYG Rats1 They fought the dogs and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheess out of the rats, And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Alade nests inside men's Sunday hats, And even spoiled the women's chats By drowning their spealing With shricking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats. Ac last the people in a body To the Town Hall ame flocking: ""Tis clear," cried thiey, "our Mayor's a noddy; And as for our Corporation-slocking To think we buy gowns lined with crminc For dolts that can't or won't determine What's best to rid us of our serruin! You hope, because you're old and obese, To find in the furry civic robe case? Rouse up, Sirs! Give your brains a racking To find the remedy we're lacking; Or, surc as fate, we'll send you packing!" At this the Mayor and Corporation Quaked with a mighty consternation. ! IV An hour they sat in council: At length the Mayor broke silence: 25 ·MANY ADVENTURES "For a guilder I'd my crminc gown sell; I wish I were a milc hence! It's easy to bid one rack one's brain- I'm sure my poor head aches again, I've scratched it so, and all in vain. O for a trap, a trap, a trap! Just as he said this, what should hap At the chamber door, but a gentle tap? "Bless us! " cried the Mayor, “what's that? (With the Corporation as he sat, Looking little though wondrous fat; Nor brighter was his cyc, nor moister Than a too-long-opened oyster, Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous For a plate of turtlc, green and glutinous) "Only a scraping of shocs on the mat? Anything like thc sound of a rat Makes my hcart go pit-a-pat! 64 Come in!”--the Mayor cricd, looking bigger: And in did come the strangest figure! His qucer long coat from heel to head Was half of yellow and half of red, And he himself was tall and thin, With sharp blue eyes, cach like a pin, And lighe loose hair, yet swarthy skin, No tult on check nor beard on chin, But lips where smiles went out and in; There was no guessing his kith and kin: And nobody could cnough admire Thic tall man and his quaint attire. 26 ·ROBERT BROWNLC Quoth one: "It's as my great-grandsire, Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone, Had walked this way from his painted tombstone! VI Ile advanced to the council-table. And, " Please your honours," said he, "I'm able, By means of a secret charin, to draft All crcatures living beneath the sun, That creep or swim or fly or run, After me so as you ncier sawl And I chicfly use my charm On crcatures that do people harm, The mole and road and nent and siper; And people call me the Pied Piper." (And here they noticed round his neck A scarf of red and yellow stripe To match with his coat of the self-sare check, And at the scarf's end hung a pipe; And his fingers, they noticed, mere erer straying As if impatient to be playing Upon his pipe, as low it dangled Oier his icsture so old-fangled.) "Yer," said he, "poor piper as I am, in Tartary I freed the Cham, Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats; I eased in deia the Nizam Of a monstrous brood of rampire-bats : And as for what your brain besvilders, If I can rid your town of rats, you give me a thousand guilders? “ 27 ·MINY ADVENTURES "One? fifty thousand! "-was the exclamation Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation. VO Into the street the Piper stept, Smiling first a little smile, As if he knew what magic slept In his quiet pipe the while; Then, like a musical adept, To blow the pipe his lips hc wrinkled, And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled, Like a candlc-flame where salt is sprinkled; And cre thrce shrill notes the pipe uttered, You heard as if an army muttercd; And the muttering grew to a grumbling; And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling; And out of the houses che racs canie tumbling. Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, Brown rats, black rats, grcy rats, tawny rats, Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, inothers, uncles, cousins, Cocking tails and pricking whiskers. Families bp tens and dozens, Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives Followed the Piper for their lives. From street to street he piped advancing, And step for step they followed dancing, Until they came to the River Weser, Wherein all plunged and perished! Save one who, stout as Julius Caesar, Swam across and lived to carry (As he, the manuscript he cherished) ·HOBFKT BROWNING To Rac-land home his commentary: Which was, "At the first shrill noirs of the pipe, I heard a sound as of scraping tripe, And putting appics, wondrous ripe, into i citter.press's gripe And a moving away of pichiosulboards, And a leasing ajar of conscric-cupboards, And a drawing the corhs of crain-oil-Nashs, And a breaking the loops of butter-casks. And it seemed as if Toice (Succter far than by harp or by pealicry Is breathcd) called out. "Oh, rata, rejoice1 The world is grown to one sast drysaltcry! So munch on, crunch on, take your muncheon, Breakfası, supper, dinner, lunclicon'' And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon All ready staved, like a great stin shone Glorious scarce an inch before me. Just as methought it 42. Comc. forc mcl' I found the Weser rolling o'er inc." VIII You should have licarsi che Ilainelin people Ringing the lic!le till they rached the stecplc. "Go," cried the layor, and gas long poles, Polc out the nests, and block up the hole! Consult with carpenters and builders, And lcanc in our town not csen a trace of the rats! "-hen, suddenly, up the face Of the l'iper perhed in the marketplace. With a "First, if you picasc, my thousand guilder, 29

·MIANY ADVENTURES
IX
A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue;
So did the Corporation too.
For council dinncrs made rare havoc
With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock;
And half the money would replenish
Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish.
To pay this sum to a wandering fellow
With a gipsy coat of red and yellow!
Beside,” quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink,
"Our business was donc at the river's brink;
We saw with our cyes the vermin sink,
And what's dead can't come to life. I think.
So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink
From the duty of giving you something for drink,
And a matter of money to put in your poke;
But as for the guilders, what we spoke
of them, as you very well know, was in joke.
Beside, our losses have made us thrifty.
A thousand guilders! Come, take fifty!'
Thc Piper's face ſell, and he cried
"No trifling! I can't wait, beside!
I'vc promised to visit by dinner-time
Bagdat, and accept the prime
Of the Head-Cook's pottage, all he's rich in,
For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen,
Of a nest of scorpions no survivor:
30

·RODERT DROIXING v'ith him I proved no bargain-driver, With you, don't think I'll batc a stiver! And folks who put me in a passion Way find me pipe after another fashion." XI "Ilow? " cricd the Mayor, " d'ye think I brook Icing Horec trcatcıl than a Cook? Insulire by a lazy ribaldi With idle pipe and scsturc picbald? You threaten us, ſellow? Do your worst, Blow your pipe until you burse!" XII Once more he stept into the street And to his lips again laid his long pipe of smooth straight canc; And cre hic blew brce notes (such sicer Soft notes as yet a musician's cunning Ncier gasc thc cnraptured air) "There was a rustling that sccmcıl like a bustling OF merry crowds justling ar pitching and bustling, Small ſect were partering, wooden shoes clartcring, Little liande clapping and little tongucs chartering, And, like fowls in the farmyard when barley is scaricring. Out came the children running. All the little boys and girls, With rosy checks and laxen curls, An sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls, Tripping and shipping, ran incrrily after The sonderful inusic with shouting and laughter. 31 ·MANY ADVENTURES XIII The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood As if they were changed into blocks of wood, Unable to move a step, or cry To the children merrily skipping by, --Could only follow with the cyc That joyous crowd at the Piper's back. But how the Mayor was on the rack, And the wretched Council's bosoms beat, As the Piper turned from the High Street To where the Weser rolled its waters Right in the way of their sons and daughters! However, he turned from South to West, And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed, And after him the children pressed; Great was the joy in crery breast. "He never can cross that mighty top! He's forced to let the piping drop, And we shall see our children stop! When, lo, as they rcached the mountain-side, A wondrous portal opened wide, As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed; And the Piper advanced and the children followed, And when all were in to the very last, The door in the mountain-side shut fast. Did I say all? No! One was lame, And could not dance the whole of the way; And in after years, if you would blame His sadness, he was used to say,- "It's dull in our town since my playnıntes left! I can't forget that I'm bercft 32 ·RORI.RT BROWNING of all the pleasant sights theyece, which the paper also promised me. For hiç led us, hic said, to a joyous land, Joining the town and just at hand, Where sraiers gushed and fruit-irecs grew And flowers put forth a fairer huc, And cserything was strange and new; The sparrows sere brighter than peacocks here, And their dogs outran our fallow deer, And honey-lecs had lost their stings, And horses were born with eagles' wings: And just as I lxecame assured My lame foot would be specdily cured, The music stopped and I stood still, And found myself outside the hill, Left alone against my spill, To so nos limping as before, And never hear of that country more! ITV Alas, alas for Hamelın! There came into many a burgher's pate A text which says that heaven's gate Opes to the rich at as casy rate As the needle's eye takes a camel in The Mayor sent East, West, Nonh and South. To olier the Piper, by word of mouth, Whicrerer it was men's lot to find him, Silser and gold to his heart's content, If he'd only return the way he went, And bring the children behind him. But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavour, 33 413 ·NAVY ADVENTURES And Piper and dancers were gone for ever, They made a decree that lawyers never Should think their records dated duly If, after the day of the month and the year These words did not as well appear, And so long after what happened here On the Twenty-second of July, Thirteen hundred and seventy-six": And the better in memory to fix The place of the children's last retrcat, They called it "The Pied Piper's Street" Where anyone playing on pipe or tabor Was sure for the future to lose his labour. Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern To shock with mirth a street so solemn; But opposite the place of the cavern They wrote the story on a column, And on the great church-window painted The same, to make the world acquainted How their children were stolen away, And there it stan:ls to this very day. And I must not omit to say That in Transylvania there's a tribe Of alien people who ascribe The outlandish ways and dress On which their ncighbours lay such stress, To their fathers and mothers liaving risen Out of some subterraneous prison Into which they were trepanned Long time ago in a miglity band Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land, But how or why, they don't understand. 34

·ROBERT DROWTYG
XV
So, Willy, let you and me be wipers
Of scores ous with all men-especially ripersi
And, where they pipe us free from sats or from mic
If we're promised thiem aught, let us keep our promi
ROBERT BROWXTYC
RODIN GOODFELLOW
From Oberon, in fairy land,
The king of gliosis and shadlows there,
Mad Robin I, at his command,
Am scnt to view the night-sports here.
What revel rout
Is hcpt about,
In ciery corner where I go,
I will o'ersce, and merry be,
And make good sport, wiib ho, ho, hol
More swife than lightning can I dg
Alvout this nery uclkin soon,
And, in a minute's space, descry
Each thing that's done below the moon.
There's not a hag
Or ghost shall wag
Or cry, 'ware goblins! where I go;
But Robin I their feats will spy.
And send them home, with ho, ho, hol
Mens'cr such anderers I meet,
As from their sight-sports they trudge house
35

·MANY ADVENTURES With counterfciting voice I grcet, And call them on with me to roam: Through woods, through lakcs; Through bogs, through brakes; Or clsc, unseen, with them I go, All in the nick to play some trick, And frolic it, with ho, ho, ho! Somcrimes I meet them like a man, Sometines an ox, somctimes a hound; And to a horse I turn me can, To trip and trot about them round. But if to ride My back thcy stridc, Morc swift than wind away I go, O'er hedge and lands, through pools and ponds, I hurry, laughing, ho, ho, hol When lads and lasses merry be, With possets and with junkets fine: Unseen of all the company, I cat thcir cakes and sip their wine! And, to make sport, I puff and snort; And out the candles I do blow: The maids I kiss; they shriek-Who's this I answer naught but ho, ho, hol Yet now and then, the maids to please, At inidnight I card up their wool; And, while they sleep and take their case, With wheel to threads their flas I pull. 36 ·AXONYMOUS I grind at mill Their malt up stiil; I dress their hemp: I spin their tast; If any 'sake, and would me cake, I rond me, laughing. ho, ho, lo! When any need to borros aught, Welend them what they do rcquire: And, for the use demand we noughe; Our own is all we do desire. If to repay They do delay, Abroad amongst them then I go, And nign by night, I them aſtricht With pinchings, dreams, and ho, ho, hol When lazic qucans hare nought to do, But study how to cog and lye: To make debate and mischief too, Twixt one another secretly: I mark their gloze, And it disclose To them whom they have wronged so: Wen I base donc, I get me gone. And leare them scolding, ho, ho, hol When men do traps and engines set In loop-lolos sliere the scrmin creep. \Vho from their folds and houses get Their ducks and frese, and lambs and sheep; TY thc gin, And cntcs in, 37 ·MAXY ADVENTURES And seem a vermin taken so; But when they there approach me near, I leap our laughing, ho, ho, hol By wells and rills, in meadows green, We nightly dance our heyday guise; And to our fairy king and queen We chant our moon-light minstrelsies. When larks 'gin sing, Away we fling; And babes new born steal as we go; And elf in bed we leave instead, And wend us laughing, ho, ho, hol From hag-bred Merlin's time hare I Thus nightly revelled to and fro; And for my pranks men call me by The name of Robin Good-fellow. Fiends, ghosts. and sprites, Who haunt the nights, The hags and goblins do me know; And beldames old my fcats have told, So, rale, valc; ho, ho, hol ANONYMOUS THE FAIRY QUEEN Come follow, follow me, You, fairy elves that be: Which circle on the greene, Come follow Mab your qucenc. Hand in hand let's dance around, For this place is fairy ground. 38 ·ANONYMOUS When mortals are at rest, And snoring in their nest; Unhcard, and unespied, Through keyholes do we glide; Over tables, stools, and shelves, We trip it with our fairy elves, And, if the house be foul With platter, dish, or bowl, Upstairs we nimbly creep, And find the sluts asleep; There we pinch their armes and thighes; None escapes, nor none espies. But if the house be swept, And from uncleanness kept, We praise the household maid, And duly she is paid: For we use before we go To drop a tester in her shoe. Upon a mushroom's head Our tablecloth we spread; A grain of ryc, or wheat, Is manchet, which we cat; Pearly drops of dew we drink In acorn cups filled to the brink. The brains of nightingales, With unctuous fat of snails, Between two cochles stened, Is mear that's easily chened; Sixpence A small loaf 39

·MANY ADVENTURES
Tails of worms, and marroir of mice,
Do make a dish that's wondrous nice.
The grasshopper, gnat, and ly,
Serre for our minstrelsie;
Grace said, we dance awhile,
And so the time beguile:
And if the moon doth hide her head,
The glow-worm lights us home to bed.
On tops of dewy grass
So nimbly do we pass;
The young and tender stalk
Ne'er bends when we do walk:
Yet in the morning may be seen
Where we the night before have been,
ANONYMOUS
.
FROM THE FAERIE QUEENE
Therewith the Giant buckled him to fight,
Infamed with scornful wrath and high disdain,
And lifting up his dreadful club on height,
All armed with ragged snubbes and knotty grain,
Him thought at first encounter to have slain.
But wise and wary was that noble Pcer;
And, lightly lcaping from so monstrous main,
Did fair avoid the siolence him near:
It booted nought to think such thunderbolts to bcar,
No shamc he thought to shun so hideous might:
The idle stroke enforcing furious way,
40

·EDSOUND SPENSER Nerina che most of his minimad rinha That shrec yards deep a furrow up did throw. The sad earth, wounded with so sore essay, Did groan full grievous underneath the blow, And rrembling with strange fear did like an carthquake show. As when almighty Jove, in wrathful mood, To wreak the guilt of mortal sins is bent, Hurls forth his thundering dare with deadly food Enrolled in Names, and smouldering dreariment, Through riven clouds and molen firmament; The fierce three-forked engine, making way, Both lofty towers and highest trees hath rent, And all that might his angry passage stay, And, shooting in the carth, Cases up a mount of clay. His boisterous club, so buried in the ground, He could not rearen up again so light, But chat the knight him az advantage found; And, whiles he strove his cumbered club to quight! Out of the earth, with blade all burning bright He smote olf his left arm, which the a block Did fall to ground, deprived of native might; Large streams of blood out of the trunked stock Forth pushed, like fresh water stream from riven rock. Dismayed with so desperate deadly wound, And cke impatient of unwonted pain, 1 Set free . B ·MANY ADVENTURES He loudly brayed with beastly yelling sound, That all the fields rebellowèd again. As great a noise, as when in Cymbrian plain A herd of bulls, whom kindly rage doth sting, Do for the milky mothers' want complain, And fill the fields with troublous bellowing, And ncighbour woods around with hollow murmuring EDMUND SPENSER ·A ROUND OF SONGS LONDON BRIDGE London Bridge is broken dopam Dance o'er my Lody L London Bridge is broken cov With a gay lady. How shall we build i CD 2013? Dance o'er my Led L- How shall we build 2: 22? With a gay lod. Silver and gold orze away, Dance o'er m; LL.:, Silver and gold I be away, Il'ith a gay Lady Build it up we rond steel, Dance o'c is Lee, Build it up to 2d steel, With a goo Leder Iron and see will bend and bow, Dance o'er ty Lady Lee, Iron and see wil bend and bow, With a gas lady. 43 ·. A ROUND OF SONGS Build it ир with wood and clay, Dancc o'cr my Lady Lee, Build it up with wood and clay, With a gay lady. Wood and clay will wash away, Dance o'er my Lady Lee, Wood and clay will wash away, With a gay lady. Build it up with stone so strong, Dancc o'er my Lady Lec, Huzzal 'twill last for ages long, TVith a gay lady. ANONYMOUS ROADWAYS Onc road leads to London, Onc road runs to Walcs, My road leads mc scawards To the white clipping sails. Onc road leads to the river, As it goes singing slow; My road leads to shipping, Where the bronzed sailors go. Lcads mc. lures mc, calls mc To sale green tossing sea; A road without carth's road-dust Is the right road for inc.

·JOIN MASETTELD
A wet road heaving. shining,
And sild with seagulls' cries,
A mad salt sea-wind blowing
The salt spray in my eyes.
My road calls me, lures me
West, east, south, and north;
Most roads lead men homewards,
My road leads me forth
To add more miles to the tally
Of grey miles left behind,
In quest of that one beauty
God put me here to find.
JOIN MASEFIELD
THE VAGABOND
I know the pools where the grayling rise,
I know the trees where the filberts fall,
I know the woods where the red fox lies,
The twisted elms where the brown owls call
And I've seldom a shilling to call my own,
And there's never a girl I'd marry.
I thank the Lord I am a rolling stone
With never a care to carry.
I walk to the stars as they come and go
On crcry night from July to June,
I'm free of the speech of the winds that blow,
And I know what Heather will sing what tunc
45

·A ROUND OF SOXGS I Sow no seed and I pay no rent, And I thank no inan for his bountics, But I've a treasure that's never spent, I'm lord of a dozen counties. JOHN DRINKWATER THE OLD CLOAK This winter's wcather it wascth cold, And frost it freczeth on every hill, And Borcas blows his blast so bold That all our cattle are like to spill.? Bell, my wifc, she loves no strifc: She said unto me quietlye, Rise up, and save cow Crumbock's life! Man, put thine old cloak about thcel He. O Bell, my wife, why dost thou flyte?" Thou kens my cloak is very thin: It is so bare and overworn, A cricke thereon cannot rin. Then I'll no longer borrow nor lend; For once I'll new apparell'd be: Tomorrow I'll to town and spend: For I'll have a new cloak about me. She. Cow Crumbock is a very good cow: She has been always true to the pail; She has helped us to butter and cheese, I trow, And other things she will not fail. i To be destroyed. Grumble, 46 ·ANONYMOUS I would be loth to see her pine. Good husband, counsel take of me: It is not for us to go so finc- Man, take thine oid cloak about thee! He. My cloak it was a very good cloak, It hath been always true to the wear; But now it is not worth a groat: I have had it four and forty year. Sometime it was of cloth in grain:' "Tis now but a sigh clout, as you may see: It will neither hold out wind nor rain; And I'll have a new cloak about me. She. It is four and forty years ago Sine the one of us the other did ken; And we have had betwixt us two, Of children either nine or ten: We have brought them up to women and men: In the fear of God I trow they be: And why wilt thou thyself misken? Man, take thine old cloak about theel He. O Bell, my wife, why dost thou flyte? Now is now, and then was then: Scek now all the world throughout, Thou kons not clowns from gentlemen: They are clad in black, green, yellow and blue, So far above their own degree. Once in my life I'll take a view; For I'll have a new cloak about me. Djed with fast colour SA SOIT) piece of cloth 47 ·AROUND OF SONGS She. King Stephen was a worthy peer; His breeches cost him but a crown; He held them sixpence all too dear, Thcrefore he called the tailor "lown." He was a king and wore the crown, And thou'se but of a low degree: It's pride that puts this country down: Man, take thy old cloak about theel Bell, my wife, she loves not strife, Yet she will lead me, if she can; And to maintain an casy life I oft must yield, though I'm good-man. It's not for a man with a woman to thrcap, Unless hic first give o'er the plea: As we began, so will we keep, And I'ů take my old cloak about me. ANONYMOUS THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN I'll sing you a good old song, Made by a good old pate, Of a finc old English gentleman Who had an old cstate, And who kept up his old mansion At a bountiful old rate; With a good old porter to relicve The old poor at his gate, Like a ſine old English gentleman All of the olden timc. 1 Dispute. 48 ·ANONYMOUS His hall so old was hung around With pikes and guns and hows, And swords, and good old bucklers, Tlac had stood some tough old blows; Twas there his worship held his state in double and trunk hose, And quaffed his cup of good old sack, To warm his good old nose, Like a fine old English gentleman All of the olden time. When winter's cold brought frost and spow, He opened house to ali; An though threescore and ten his years, He featly led the ball; Nor was the houseless wanderer E'er driven from his hall; For while he feasted all the great, He ne'er forgot the small; Like a fine old English gentleman All of the olden time. But time, though old, is strong in flight, And years rolled swiftly by; And Autumn's falling leaves proclaimed This good old man must die! He laid him down right tranquilly, Gave up liſe's latest sigh, And mournful stillness reigned around, And sears bedewed each eye, For this line old English gentleman All of the olden time, Nimbly 49 ---

·A ROUND OF SONGS
Now surely this is better far
Than all the new parade
Of theatres and fancy balls,
" At home" and masquerade:
And much more economical,
For all his bills were paid,
Then leave your new vagaries quite,
And take up the old trade
Of a fine old English gentleman,
All of the olden timc.
ANONYMOUS
LEAVE HER, JOHNNY
(A Sea Chanty for Pumping and Halliards)
: thought I heard the captain say,
Leave her, Johnny, lcave her;
You may go ashore and touch your pay,
It's time for us to leave lier.
You may make her fast, and pack your gear,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her;
And leave her moored to the West Street Pier
It's time for us to leave her,
The winds were foul, the work was hard,
Lcave lier, Jolinry, Icave her;
From Liverpool Docks to Brooklyn Yard,
It's time for its to leave her.
1 Ropes for hoisting sails.
.50

·ANONYSIOUS
She would neither steer, nor stay, nor wear,'
Leave her, Johnny, leave her;
She shipped it green and she made us swear,
It's time for tis to leave her.
She would neither wear, nor steer, nor stay,
Leme her, Jolinny, leave her;
Her running rigging carried away,
It's time for us to leave her.
The winds were foul, the trip was long,
Lerrie hier, Johnny, Icare lier;
Before we go we'll sing a song.
It's time for us to leave her.
We'll sing, Oh, may we never be,
Lere lier, Johnny, leave her;
On a hungry ship the like of she,
It's time for us to leave hier.
Coil down."
So Long
ANONYMOU
"To change her course to the opposite tack
The end man makes a neat coil of the length of rope
51

·AROUND OF SONGS
A SONG FROM "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S
DREAM"
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen.
Philomel, with melody,
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm,
Come our lorely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby.
Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-leggel spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not ncar;
Worm nor snail, do no ollence.
Philoincl, with melody,
Sing in our sweet lullaby:
Lulla. lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Nerer harm,
Nor spell nor charm,
Comc our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby.
WILLIAM SILAKESPEARE
52

·FUN AND NONSENSE THE PIGTAIL There lived a sage in days of yore, And he a handsome pigtail wore: But wondered much and sorrowed more Because it hung behind him. He muscd upon this curious case, And store he'd change the pigtail's place, And have it hanging at his face, Not dangling there behind him. Says he, "The mystery I've found I'll cum me round" -he turned him round; But still it hung behind him. Then round, and round, and out and in. All day the puzzled sage did spin, In vain-it mattered not a pin- The pigtail hung behind him. And right, and left, and round about, And up and down, and in and out, He turned; but still the pigtail stour Hung steadily behind him 53 ·FUN AND NONSENSE And though his cfforts never slack, And though he twist, and twirl, and tack, Alas! still faithful to his back The pigtail hangs behind him. W. NI. THACKERAY YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM "You arc old, Father William," the young man said, And your hair has become very white; And yet you incessantly stand on your head- Do you think, at your age, it is right?” In my youth," Father William rcplicd to his son, “I feared it might injure the brain; But now that I'm perſecily sure I have nonc, Why, I do it again and again.” "You are old," said the youth, as I incntioned before, And have grown most uncommonly fat; Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door Pray, what is the reason of that?" "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grcy locks, "I kept all my limbs very supple By the use of this ointment-onc shilling the box- Allow me to sell you a couple." " You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too Wcak For anything tougher than suct; 54 ·08 LEWIS CARROLL" er you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak Pray, how did you manage to do it?" *In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law, And argued each case with my wife; And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw Has lasted the rest of my life.” You are old," said the youth; "one would hardly suppose That your eye was as steady as ever; Yet you balanced an ecl on the end of your nose- What made you so awfully clever?" ** I have answered three questions, and that is enough," Said his father," don't give yourself aírsi Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? • Bc off, or I'll kick you down stairs!” "LEWIS CARROLL * SAGE COUNSEL The lion is the beast to fight: He leaps along the plain, And if you run with all your might, He runs with all his mane. I'm glad I'm not a Hottentot, But if I were, with outward cal-lumn I'd either faint upon the spot Or hic me up a leafy pal-lum. 55

·FUN AND NONSENSE
The chamois is the beast to hunt:
He's flecter than the wind,
And when the chamois is in front
The hunter is behind.
The Tyrolese makc famous cheese
And hunt the chamois o'er the chazzums;
I'd choose the former, if you please,
For precipices give me spaz-zums.
The polar bear will make a rug
Almost as white as snow:
But if he gets you in his hug,
He rarely Icts you go.
And Polar ice looks
very
nice,
With all the colours of a prissum:
But, if you'll follow my advice,
Stay home and learn your
catechissum.
SIR ARTHUR QUILLER-COUCH
SOME HALLUCINATIONS
He thought he saw an Elephant,
That practised on a fife:
He looked again, and found it was
A letter from his wife.
At length I realize," he said,
"The bitterness of Life!"
56

·LEWIS CARROLL"
He thought he sate a Buffalo
Upon the chimney-picce:
He looked again, and found it was
His Sister's Husband's Niece,
"Unless you leave this house," he said,
"1'}} send for the Police!"
He thought he $317 a Rattlesnake
That questioned him in Greek:
He looked again, and found it was
The Middle of Next Weck.
"The one thing I regret," he said,
"Is that it cannor speaki"
He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus:
"If this should stay to dine," he said,
"There won't be much for use"
LEWIS CARROLL"
BALLAD
PART 1
The auld wife sat at her ivied door,
(Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese)
A thing she had frequently done before,
And her speciales lay on her apron'd knees.

·FUN AND YOXSE:VSE
Thc piper he piped on the hill-top high,
(Butier and eggs and a pound of cheese)
Till the cow said, "I die," and the goose
ask'd, "Why?'
And the dog said nothing, but search'd for ficas.
The farmer he strode through the square farmyard;
(Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese)
His last brew of ale tras a trifle hard
The connexion of which with the plot one sees.
The farmer's daughter hath frank blue cyes;
(Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese)
She hears the rooks caw in the windy skies,
As she sits in her lattice and shells her peas.
The farmer's daughter hath ripe red lips;
(Butter and cggs and a pound of cheese)
If you try to approach her, away she skips
Over tables and chairs with apparent case.
Thic farmer's daughter hath soft brown hair;
(Butics and cggs and a pound of cheese)
And I met with a ballad, I can't say where,
Which wholly consisted of lines like thesc.
PART II
She sat with her hands 'ncath her dimplcd checks
(Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese)
And spake not
word. While a lady speaks
There is hope, but she didn't even snceze.
58

·CILARLES STUART CALVERLEY
She sat with her hands 'neath her crimson checks;
(Butter and cggs and a pound of cheese)
She gave up mending her father's breeks,
And let the cat roll in her new chemisc.
+
She sat with her hands 'ncath her burning checks,
(Bulter and cggs and a pound of cheese)
And gazed at the piper for thirteen weeks;
Then she follow'd him out o'er the misty leas.
ller sheep follow'd her, as their tails did them.
(Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese)
And this
song
is consider'd a perfect gem,
And as to the meaning, it's what you please.
CILARLES STUART CALVERLIT
FAITHLESS SALLY BROWN
Young Ben he was a nice young man,
A carpenter by trade;
And hc fell in love with Sally Brown,
That was a lady's maid.
But as they fetched a walk one day,
They met a press-gang crew;
And Sally she did ſaint away,
Whilst Ben he was brought to.
59

·FUN AND NONSEYSE The Boatswain swore with wicked words, Enough to shock a saint, That though she did seem in a fit, 'Twas nothing but a feint. “Come, girl," said he,“ hold up your head, He'll be as good as me; For when your swain is in our boat, A boatswain he will be." So when they'd made their game of her, And taken off her clf, She rouscd, and found she only was A coming to herself. "And is he gone, and is he gone?” She cried, and wept outright: "Then I will to the water side, And sce him out of sight.” A waterman came up to her, “Now, young woman,” said he, you weep on so, you will make Eye-water in the sea." “Alas! they've taken my beau Ben To sail with old Benbow"; And her woe began to run afresh, As if she'd said Gee woc! “If Says he, “They've only taken him To the Tender ship, you see"; "The Tender ship," cricd Sally Brown, “What a hard-ship that must be! 60 ·THOMAS HOOD Oh! would I were a mermaid now, For then I'd follow him; But ohi-I'm not a fish-woman, And so I cannot ssim. "Alag! I was not born beneath The Vergin and the Scales, So I must curse my cruel stars. And walk about in Wales." Now Ben had sailed to many a place That's underneath the world: But in two years the ship amc home, And all her sails were furled. But when he called on Sally Brown, To see how she went on, He found she'd got another Ben, Whose Christian name was John, "O Sally Croun, Sally Bronn! How could you sense me so? I've met with many a breeze before, But never such a blow." Then scading on his 'bacco box,' He healed a bitter sigh, And then began to eye his pipe, And tlien to pipe his eye. And then he tried to sing "All's Well," But could not though he tried; His head was tumed, and so he chewed His pigtail till he died. "A wilor's tobacco-box often bore a love-couplet. 61 ·FUN AND NONSENSE His death, which happened in his berth, At forty-odd befell: They went and told the sexton, and The sexton toll'd the bell. THOMAS HOOD THE LOBSTER QUADRILLE "Will you walk a little faster? ” said a whiting to a snail, "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail. Sce how cagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance! They are waiting on the shingle-will you come and join the dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? Will you. won't you, won't you, won't you join the dance? will you, "You can really have no notion how delightful it will be, When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to seal But thc snail replied, "Too far, too far! ” and gave a look askancc Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance. Would not, could not, would not, could not, would no join the dancc. Would not, could not, would not, could not, could nc join the dance. 62 ·LEWIS CARROLL -What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replicd. *There is another shore, you knows, upon the other side. The further off from England the nearer is to France- Then turn not palc, bclosed snail, but come and join tlic dance, Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, sson't you join the dance? LEWIS CARROLL" LITTLE BILLEE Therc were three sailors of Bristol city Who took a boat and went to sea, But first with becf and captain's biscuits And pickled pork they loaded shc. There was gorging Jack and guzzling Jimmy. And the youngest he was little Billce. Now when they got so far as the Equator They'd nothing left but onc split pea. Swys gorging Jack to guzzling Jimmy, "I am extremely hungarce." To gorging Jack says guzzling Jimmy. "Wicie nothing left; us must cat wc." 63

·No text on this page.

·"LEWIS CARROLL" "What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied, "There is another shore, you know, upon the other side The further off from England tlıc ncarer is to France- Then turn not palc, beloved snail, but come and join the dance. Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? Will you, won't you will you, won't you, won't you join the dance? "LEWIS CARROLL" LITTLE BILLEE There were three sailors of Bristol city Who took a boat and went to sca, But first with beef and captain's biscuits And pickled pork they loaded she. There was gorging Jack and guzzling Jimmy. And the youngest he was little Billce. Now when they got so far as thc Equator They'd nothing left but onc split pea. Says gorging Jack to guzzling Jimmy, "I am extremely hungarce." To gorging Jack says guzzling Jimmy Wese nothing left; us must cat me." 63

·FUN AND NONSENSE
Says gorging Jack to guzzling Jimmy,
"With one another we shouldn't agree!
There's little Bill, he's young and tender,
We're old and tough, so let's eat he.
Oh, Bill, we're going to kill and eat you,
So undo the button of your chemie."
When Bill received this information
He used his pocket-handkerchie.
First let me say my catechism,
Which my poor mammy taught to me.".
"Make haste, make haste," says guzzling Jimmy,
While Jack pulled out his snickersnee.
So Billy went up to the main-top gallant mast,
And down he fell on his bended knee.
He scarce had come to the twelfth commandment,
When up he jumps, “There's land I see:
“ There's Jerusalem and Madagascar,
And North and South Amerikee:
There's the British flag a-riding at anchor,
With Admiral Napier, K.C.B."
So when they got aboard of the Admiral's,
He hanged far Jack and flogged Jimmee;
But, as for little Bill, he made him
The Captain of a Seventy-three.'
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKE.
1 A warship mounting seventy-three guns.
64

·THE COUNTRY LIFE A SONG OF ENCHANTMENT A song of Enchantment I sang me there, In a green-green wood, by waters fair, Just as the words came up to me 1 sang it under the wild wood trec. Widdershins' turned 1. singing it low, Watching the wild birds come and go; No cloud in the deep dark blue to be seen Under the thick-thatched branches green. Twilight came: silence came: The planet of Evening's silver flame; Dy darkening paths I wandered through Thickets trembling with drops of dew. But the music is lost and the words are gone Of the song I sang as I sat alone, Ages and ages have fallen on me- On the wood and the pool and the elder tree. WALTER DE LA MARE "Away from the sun's direction 413 65 C

·THE COUNTRY LIFE
A BOY'S SONG
Where the pools are bright and deep,
Where the gray trout lies asleep,
Up the river and over the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me,
Where the blackbird sings the latest,
Where the hawthorn blooms the sweetest,
Where the nestlings chirp and flee,
That's the way for Billy and me.
Where the mowers mow the cleanest,
Where the hay lies thick and greenest,
There to track the homeward bee,
That's the way for Billy and me.
Where the hazel bank is steepest,
Where the shadow falls the deepest,
Where the clustering nuts fall free,
That's the way for Billy and me.
This I know, I love to play,
Through the meadow, among the hay,
Up the water and over the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.
JAMIES H
66

·WILLIAM WORDSWORTTI
FROM "THE PRELUDE "
V 364 388
There was a Boy: ye knew him well, ye cliffs
And islands of Winanderi-many a time
At erening, when the carliest stars began
To move along the cdges of the hills,
Rising or setting, would he stand alone
Bencath the trees or by the glimmering lake,
And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands
Pressed closely palm to palm, and 10 his mouth
Uplifted, he, as through an instrument,
Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls,
That they might answer him; and they would shout
Across the watery vale, and shout again,
Responsive to his call, with quisering peals,
And long halloos and screams, and echoes loud,
Redoubled and redoubled, concourse wild
Of jocund din; and, when a lengthened pause
Of silence came and baffled his best skill,
Then sometimes, in that silence while he bung
Listening. a gentle shock of mild surprise
Has carried far into his heart the voice
of mountain torrents; or the visible scene
Would enter ungwgres into his mind,
With all its solemn imagery, its rocks,
Its woods, and that uncertain heaven, received
Into the bosom of the steady lake.
WILLIL WORDSWORTH
--

·THE COUNTRY L
ALLEN-A-DALE
Allen-a-Dale has no fagot for burning,
Allen-a-Dale has no furrow for turning,
Allen-a-Dale has no fleece for the spinning,
Yet Allen-a-Dale has red gold for the winning!
Come, read me my riddlel come, hearken my tale!
And tell me the craft of bold Allen-a-Dale.
The Baron of Ravensworth prances in pride,
And he views his domains upon Arkindale side,
The mere for his net, and the land for his game,
The chase for the wild, and the park for the tame,
Yet the fish of the lake and the deer of the vale.
Are less free to Lord Dacre than Allen-a-Dale!
Allen-a-Dale was ne'er belted a knight,
Though his
spear be as sharp, and his blade be as
bright;
Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord,
Yet twenty tall yeomen will draw at his word;
And the best of our nobles his bonnet will vail,
Who at Rere-cross on Stanmore meets Allen-a-Dale.
Allen-a-Dale to his wooing is come;
The mother, she asked of his household and home;
"Though the castle of Richmond stands fair on the hil!
My hall," quoth bold Allen, “shows gallanter still;
'Tis the blue vault of heaven, with its crescent so pal
And with all its bright spangles!” said Allen-a-Dal
68

·WILL NOWTTT
The father was stcel, and the mother was stone;
They lifted the larch, and they hade him be gone;
But loud, on the morros, their wail and their ay:
He had laughed on the lass with his bonny black eye
And she fled to the forest to hear a los cuale,
And the youth it was told by his Allen 2-D2le!
STR WALTER SCOTT
THE WIND IN A FROLIC
The wind one morning spring up from sleep,
SayinNow for a frolic! now for a lapi
Now for a mad.cap.galloping chase!
I'll make a commotion in ciers place!"
So it swepe with a bustle nghe through a great rowth
Cracking the signs and scartering down
Shutters: and whisking with merciless equalls.
Old women's bonnets and gingerbread stalls.
There never was heard a much lussier shout.
As the apples and oranges trundled about:
And the urchins that stand with their thicrish cyes
For crer on watch ran oI each with a prize.
Then alay co the Gelds it rent blustering and
humming,
And the cattle all woodered what monster was
coming
It pluched by the tails the grave matronly cons.
And tossed the colts' mands all over their brows;
Toil, o ended at such an unusual salute,
They all turned their backs, and stood sulky and mur

·THE COUNTRY LIFE So on it went, capering and playing its pranks, Whistling with reeds on the broad river's banks, Puffing the birds as they sat on the spray, Or the traveller grave on the King's highway. It was not too nice to hustle the bags Of the beggar, and flutter his dirty rags; 'Twas so bold that it feared not to play its joke With the doctor's wig or the gentleman's cloak. Through the forest it roared, and cried gaily, "Now, You sturdy old oaks, I'll make you bow! And it made them bow without much more ado, For it cracked their great branches through and through Then it rushed like a monster on cottage and farm, Striking their dwellers with sudden alarm; And they ran out like bees in a mid-summer swarm: There were dames with their kerchiefs tied over their caps, To see if their poultry were free from mishaps; The turkeys they gobbled, the geese screamed aloud, And the hens crept to roost in a terrified crowd; There was rearing of ladders, and logs were laid on, Where the thatch from the roof threatened soon to be gone. vain; But the wind had swept on, and had met in a lane With a schoolboy, who panted and struggled in For it tossed him and twirled him, then passedand he stood With his hat in a pool and his shoes in the mud! 70

·JOINN MASEFIELD
Then away went tlie sind in its holiday glee,
And now it was far on the billowy sca,
And the lordly ships (elt the staggering blow,
And the little boits darted to and fro.
Bur, lol it was night, and it sank to rest
On the sca-bird's rock in the gicaming west,
Laughing to think, in its fearful fun,
Howy little of mischick it really had done.
WILLIAM TIOWITT
THE WEST VIND
It's a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries;
I never hear the west wind but tears are in my eyes.
For it comes from the west lands, the old brown hills,
And April's in the west wind, and daffodils.
It's a fine land, the west land, for hearts as tired as minc,
Apple orchards blossom there, and the air's like wipe.
There is cool green grass there, where men may lic at
TCSI,
And the thrushes are in song there, ſluting from the
nest.
“Will you not come hotne, brother? Ye hare been
long away.
It's April. and blossom time, and white is the may;
And brigh is the sun, brother, and warm is the rain.-
you not come home, brother, homc to us again?
*Tic young com is green, brother, where the rabbits
run,
It's bluc aky, and white clouds, and warm rain and sun
72

·THE COUNTRY LIFE
It's song to a man's soul, brother, fire to a man's brain,
To hear the wild bees and see the merry spring again.
"Larks are singing in the west, brother, above the green
wheat,
So will you not come home, brother, and rest your tired
feet?
I've a balm for bruised hearts, brother, sleep for aching
eyes,"
Says the warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries.
It's the white road westwards is the road I must tread
To the green grass, the cool grass, and rest for heart
and head,
To the violets and the warm hearts and the thrushes'
song,
In the fine land, the west land, the land where I belong.
JOHN MASEFIELD
THE BROOK
I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.
72

·ALFRED, LORD TEXNTSON
Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming riser,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for eser,
I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays.
1 babble on the pchbles.
With many a curve my banks 1 fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy forcland set
With sillow-scal and mallow.
I charter, charter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men mas come and men may go.
But I go on for ever
I wind about, and in and out.
With here a blossom sailing
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,
And here and there a foamy fake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silicry waterbrcak
Above the golden gravel,
And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming riser,
For men may come and men may go
But I go on for cser.
73

·THE COUNTRY LIFE
I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That
grow for happy lovers.
I slip, 1 slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.
I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;
생
And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
NIGHT
The sun descending in the west,
The evening star does shine;
The birds are silent in their nest,
And I must seek for mine.
The moon, like a flower
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles on the night.
74

·imarya Rars
Wher krishare aci celicit
The arts karcastic.gletaria
Tick.cf angels tiger.
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-arm in a car
Jannara 1
That scule are an ining,
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NICOSLIT APPLES
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Ta dhe cfare bouse of
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a minimir wi:7

·THE COUNTRY LIFE
y are lying in rows there, under the gloomy.beams;
the sagging floor; they gather the silver streams
at of the moon, those moonlight apples of dreams,
And quiet is the steep stair under.
a the corridors under there is nothing but sleep.
And stiller than ever on orchard boughs they keep
Tryst with the moon, and deep is the silence, deep
On moon-washed apples of wonder.
JOHN DRINKWATER
THE WINDMILL
Behold! a giant am I!
Aloft here in my tower,
With my granite jaws I devour
The maize and the wheat and the rye,
And grind them into flour.
I look down over the farms;
In the fields of grain I see
The harvest that is to be,
And I fling to the air my arms,
For I know it is all for me.
I hear the sound of flails
Far off, from the threshing-floors
In barns, with their open doors;
And the wind, the wind in my sails,
Louder and louder roars.
76

·NCYRY WADSWORTII LONCFELLOW
1 stand here in my place,
With my foot on the rock below,
And whicherer say it may blow
I meet it face to face,
As a brase man meets his foc
And while we wrestle and strire,
My master, the miller, stands
And iceds me with his hands;
For he knows who males him thrive,
Who makes him lord of lands.
On Sundays I tale my rest;
Church-going bells begin
Their low, mclodious din:
I cross my arms on my breast,
And all is peace suhin.
HIEXRY WADS WORTH LONCFELLOW
JACK AND JOAN
Jack and Joan, tlicy think no ill,
But loving live, and merry still:
Do their neck day's work, and pray
Deroutls on the holy-lay
Ship and trip it on the green,
And help to choose the Summer Queen;
Lash out at a country feast,
Their silver penay with the best.
Well can they judge of napps ale,
And tell at large 3 winter tale;

·THE COUNTRY LIFE 4 1 Climb up to the apple loft, And turn the crabs till they be soft. Tib is all the father's joy, And little Tom the mother's boy. All their pleasure is content; And care, to pay their yearly rent. Joan can call by name her cows And deck her windows with green boughs; She can wreaths and tutties make, And trim with plums a bridal cake. Jack knows what brings gain or loss; And his long flail can stoutly toss : Makes the hedge, which others break; And ever thinks what he doth speak. Now, you courtly dames and knights, That study only strange delights, Though you scorn the homespun gray, And revel in your rich array: Though your tongues dissemble deep, And can your heads from danger keep; Yet, for all your pomp and train, Securer lives the silly swain. THOMAS CAMPION MEG MERRILICS Old Meg she was a gipsy, And lived upon the moors: Her bed it was the brown heath turf, And her house was out of doors. 78

·JOIN (LATS
Her apples were siart blackberries,
Iler curranis, pois o' broom;
Her wine nas dent of the wild white rose,
Ijer book a churchyard tomb.
Jler brothers were the craggy hills,
ller sisters larchen trees,
Alone with her great family
She lired as she did please.
No brcalfatt lind she many a mom,
No dinner many a noon,
And, stead of supper, she would starc
Full hard against thic moon.
But crery morn, of woodtunc fresh
She made hics garlanding,
And, escry nighe, che dark glerı yer
She woic, and she would sing.
And ith her fingers, old and brown.
She played mais of sushes,
And give them to the couragers
She met among the bushes.
Old Meg was brave as Margaret Queen,
And all 2Amazon,
An old red blanket cloal she porc,
A chup-har' had she on
God rest iicr agèdi bones somen herei
She died full long agonel
JOIN FEATS
A hat made of thin strip of woody febre
79

·THE COUNTRY LIFE
THE NIGHT PIECE
Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee,
The shooting stars attend thee;
And the elves also,
Whose little eyes glow
Like the sparks of fire, befriend thce.
No Will-o'-th'-Wisp mislight thee,
Nor snake or slow-worm bite thee;
But on, on thy way
Not making a stay,
Since ghost there's none to affright thee.
Let not the dark thee cumber:
What though the moon does slumber?
The stars of the night
Will lend thee their light,
Like tapers clear without number.
ROBERT HERRICK
BLACKBIRD
He comes on chosen evenings,
My blackbird bountiful, and sings
Over the gardens of the town
Just at the hour the sun goes down.
His flight across the chimneys thick,
By some divine arithmetic,
80
*

·ROZZRT ECM3
Come to ti cime seack,
Acl cocche there hii pice t2com
And there be lif: bis getoon te
Kindled azt at the samsca, till
These suba: are fee Datei were
Where music har bet staden,
And while ke cu the wine's TICS
Pape on his firscle ce sc%,
Figured above condo picer
There are calesual cimien
CRVLWAZX
TO A. ETELD WOUSE
Wed, slecki:, cow'rn', circi'r Fearde,
O what a paric's iz eko treatie!
Thou read a star- 2*3 24 tasty,
Wii' ticker... trade!
I wad be laith coria an' chase the
W? .cd'risz padle!'
To tro! 10.77 ras's dois
Has Broker: twie's scáil,
Azjatifies tha: il cprice:
Which mike3 chet unie
A:re, they cart.tos aparic:
Az'dow.acra!!
1 dccbc ra, while, hot that may here,
Whatheni ço: tesée, tice to Ire!
* Prophta.

·THE COUNTRY LIFE A daimen-icker in a thravel 'S a sma' request: I'll get a blessin' wi' the lave, And never miss't! Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin! Its silly wa's the win's are strewin': And naething, now, to big a new ane, O' foggage green! An' bleak December's winds ensuin' Baith snell' an' keen! Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste An' weary winter comin' fast, An' cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till, crashl the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell. That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble Has cost thee mony a weary nibble! Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble. But house or hald, To tholes the winter's sleety dribble An' cranreuche cauld! But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane In proving foresight may be vain: i One car out of two dozen sheaves. * Long, grass left uncut right through the winter. Piercing, • Without Endure. * Hoar-frost. 82 3

·POELYT ZURYS
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang ah a gley,
An' lea'c us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy.
Still thou art blest, compared wi' mel
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e'e
On prospects crear!
An' forward, tho' I canna ser,
I guess an' fear!
POLERT BURNS
THE FOX AND THE FARMER
A Fox jumped up on a moonlight night,
The stars were shining, and all things bright;
"Oh, oh!" said the Fox," it's a very fine night
For me to go through the town, heighol
The Fox then he came to yonder stile,
He lifted his cars, and be htened awhile,
"Oh, oh!" said the Fox, “it's but a sort mile
From this unto yonder town, heigho'
The Fox when he came to the farmer's gate,
Whom should he see but the farmer - Drake;
"I love you well for your
master's sale,
And long to be picking your bonos, heighol *
83

·THE COUNTRY LIFE
There strode a stranger to the door,
And it was windy weather:
He took the goose upon his arm,
He utrcr'd words of scorning;
"So keep you cold or keep you warm,
It is a stormy morning."
The wild wind rang from park and plain,
And round the attics rumbled,
Till all the tables danced again,
And half the chimneys tumbled.
The glass blew in, the fire blew out,
Thc blast was hard and harder.
Her
сар
blew off, her gown blew up,
And a whirlwind clear'd the larder;
11
And while on all sides breaking loose
Her household fled the danger,
Quoth she, “The Devil take the goose,
And God forget the stranger!
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

·ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
de dropt the goose, and caught the pell
And ran to tell her neighbours;
Pod bless'd herself, and cursed herself,
And tested from her labours.
And feeding high, and living soft,
Grew plump and able-bodied;
Until the grave churchwarden doffd,
The parson smirk'd and nodded.
So sitting,'served by man and maid,
She felt her heart
grow prouder:
But ahl the more the white goose laid
It clack'd and cackled louder.
It clutter'd here, it chuckled there;
It stirr'd the old wife's mettle:
She shifted in her elbow-chair,
And hurl'd the pan and kettle.
*A quinsy choke thy cursèd note!"
Then wax'd her anger stronger.
"Go, take the goose, and wring her throat;
I will not bear it longer."
Then yelp'd the cur, and yawl'd the cat;
Ran Gaffer, stumbled Gammer.
The goose flew this way and flew that,
And fill'd the house with clamour.
As head and heels upon the floor
They flounder'd all together,
85

·THE COUNTRY LIFE
There strode a stranger to the door,
And it was windy weather:
He took the goose upon his arm,
He utter'd words of scorning;
"So keep you cold or keep you warm,
It is a stormy morning."
The wild wind rang from park and plain,
And round the attics rumbled,
Till all the tables danced again,
And half the chimneys tumbled.
The glass blew in, the fire blew out,
The blast was hard and harder,
Her
cap
blew off, her gown
blew
up,
And a whirlwind clear'd the larder;
And while on all sides breaking loose
Her household fled the danger,
Quoth she, "The Devil take the goose,
And God forget the stranger!
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
NICHOLAS NYE
Thistle and darnel and dock grew there,
And a bush, in the corner, of may,
On the orchard wall I used to sprawl
In the blazing heat of the day;
86

·WALTER DE LA MARE Half asleep and half awake, While the birds wear tsittering by, And nobody there my lone to share But Nicholas Nye. Nicholas Nye was lean and grey. Lame of a leg and old, More than a score of donkey's fears He had seen since he was foiled; He munched the thistles, purple and spiked. Would sometimes stoop and sigb, And turn to his head, as if he said, "Poor Nicholas Ngel" Alone with his shadow he'd drowse in the meadow, Lazily swinging his rail, At break of day be used to bray- Not much too hearty and hale; But a wonderful gumprion was under his skin, And a clear calm light in his eye, And once in a while he would smile a smile Would Nicholas Nye. Seem to he smiling at me, he would, From his bush in the comer, of may Bony and ownerless, widowed and som, Knobble-kneed, lonely and grey; And over the grass would seem to pass Neath the deep dark blue of the sky, Something much better than words betweep me And Nicholas Nye. 87 ·THE COUNTRY LIFE But dusk would come in the apple boughs, The green of the glow-worm shine, The birds in nest would crouch to rest, And home I'd trudge to mine; · And there, in the moonlight, dark with dew, Asking not wherefore nor why, Would brood like a ghost, and as still as a post, Old Nicholas Nye. WALTER DE LA MARE A RUNNABLE STAG When the pods went pop on the broom, green broom, And apples began to be golden-skinned, We harboured' a stag in the Priory coomb, And we feathered his trail up-wind, up-wind, We feathered his trail up-wind- A stag of warrant, a stag, a stag, A runnable stag, a kingly crop, Brow, bay and trays and three on top, A stag, a runnable stag. Then the huntsman's horn rang yap, yap, yap, And “Forwards” we heard the harbourer shout; But 'twas only a brocket' that broke a gap In the becchen underwood, driven out, From the underwood antlered out i Tracked to his lair. 2 A deep, narrow valley. · The first, sccond, and third antlers. A young stag with only its first horns. 88 ·JOIEN DAVIDSON By warrant and might of the stag, the stag, The sunoable siag, whose lordly mind Was bent on sleep, though beamed' and tined' He stood, a runnable stag- So we tufted the covert till afternoon With Tinkerman's Pup and Bell-of-the-North; And hunters were sulky and hounds out of runc Before we tufted the right stag forth, Before we tufted him forth, The stap of warrani, the wily stag, The runnable stag with his kingly crop. Brow, bay and tray and three on top, The royal and runnable stag. It was Bell-of-the-North and Tinkerman's Pup That stuck to the scent till the copse was drawn "Tally hol tally hol "and thic hunt was up, The tufters shipped and the pack laid on, The resolute pack laid on, And the stag of warrant away at last, The runnable stag, the same, the same, His hoofs on fire, his horns like flame, Astag, a runnable stag. "Let your gelding be: if you check or chide Fle stumbles at once and you're out of the hunt; For three liundred gentlemen, able to ride, On hunters accustomed to bear the brunt, Accustomed to bear the brunt, The beam " is the main trunk of a stag's hom; It bean the inile, 'The "tines" are each of the pointed branches of a stag's hom, Bg ·THE COUNTRY LIFE Are after the runnable stag, the stag, The runnable stag with his kingly crop, Brow, bay and tray and three on top, The right, the runnable stag." By perilous paths in coomb and dell, The heather, the rocks, and the river-bed, The pace grew hot, for the scent lay well, And a runnable stag goes right ahead, The quarry went right ahead Ahead, ahead, and fast and far; His antlered crest, his cloven hoof, Brow, bay and tray and three aloof, The stag, the runnable stag. For a matter of twenty miles and more, By the densest hedge and the highest wall, Through herds of bullocks he baffled the lore Of harbourer, huntsman, hounds and all, Of harbourer, hounds and all... The stag of warrant, the wily stag, For twenty miles, and five and five, He ran, and he never was caught alive, This stag, this runnable stag. When he turned at bay in the leafy gloom, In the emerald gloom where the brook ran deep, He heard in the distance the rollers boom, And he saw in a vision of peaceful sleep, In a wonderful vision of sleep, A stag of warrant, a stag, a stag, A rundable stag in a jewelled bed, ·JOIN DAVIDSON Under the sheltering ocean dead, A stag, a runnable stag. So a fateful hope lit up his eye, And he opened his nostrils wide again, And he tossed his branching antlers high As he headed the hunt down the Charlock glen, As he raced down the echoing glen For five miles more, the stag, the stag, For twenty miles, and five and five, Not to be caught now, dead or alive, The stag, the runnable stag. Three hundred gentlemen, able to ride, Three hundred horses as gallant and free, Beheld him escape on the evening tide, Far out till he sank in the Serern Sea, Till he sank in the depths of the sea- The stag, the buoyant stag, the stag That slept at last in a jewelled bed Under the sheltering ocean spread, The stag, the runnable stag JOIIN DAVIDSON 1 THE CLOUD ( bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams, I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams 91 ·THE COUNTRY LIFE Are after the runnable stag, the stag, The runnable stag with his kingly crop, Brow, bay and tray and three on top, The right, the runnable stag." By perilous paths in coomb and dell, The heather, the rocks, and the river-bed, The pace grew hot, for the scent lay well, And a runnable stag goes right ahead, The quarry went right ahead Ahead, ahead, and fast and far; His antlered crest, his cloven hoof, Brow, bay and tray and three aloof, The stag, the runnable stag. LA For a matter of twenty miles and more, By the densest hedge and the highest wall, Through herds of bullocks he bafted the lore Of harbourer, huntsman, hounds and all, Of harbourer, hounds and all The stag of warrant, the wily stag, For twenty miles, and five and five, He ran, and he never was caught alive, This stag, this runnable stag. When he turned at bay in the leafy gloom, In the emerald gloom where the brook ran deep, He heard in the distance the rollers boom, And he saw in a vision of peaceful sleep, In a wonderful vision of sleep, A stag of warrant, a stag, a stag, A runnable stag in a jewelled bed, 90

·No text on this page.

·THE COUNTRY LIFE From my wings are shaken the dews that waken The sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, As she dances about the sun. I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under, And then again I dissolve it in rain, And laugh as I pass in thunder. I sift the snow on the mountains below, And their great pines groan aghast; And all the night 'tis my pillow white, While I sleep in the arms of the blast. Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers, Lightning my pilot sits; In a cavern under is fettered the thunder, It struggles and howls at fits; Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion, This pilot is guiding me, Lured by the love of the genii that move In the depths of the purple sea. That orbed maiden with white fire laden, Whom mortals call the moon, Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor, By the midnight breezes strewn; And wherever the beat of her unseen feet, Which only the angels hcar, May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roe The stars peep behind her and peer; And I laugh to see them whirl and fee Like a swarm of golden bees, 92

·PERCY BYSSIE SITELLET
When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,
Till the calm rivers, lakes, and seas,
Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high,
Are each paved with the moon and these.
I am the daughter of earth and water,
And the nursling of the sky;
1 pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain, when with oever a stain
The pavilion of heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleamos
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph;
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb.
I arise and unbuild it again.
PERCY BYSSILE SHELLEY
AFTER READING IN A LETTER PROPOSALS
FOR BUILDING A COTTAGE
Beside a runnel build my shed,
With stubbles covered o'er,
Let broad oaks o'er its chiraney spread,
And grass-plats grace the door,
The door may open with a string,
So that it closes tight,
And locks would be a wanted thing
To keep our rhieres at night.
93

·THE COUNTRY LIFE A little garden, not too fine, Enclose with painted pales; And woodbines, round the cot to twine, Pin to the wall with nails. Let hazels grow, and spindling sedge Bend bowering overhead; Dig old man's beard from woodland hedge To twine a summer shade. Beside the threshold sods provide, And build a summer seat; Plant sweet-briar bushes by its side, And flowers that blossom sweet. I love the sparrows' ways to watch Upon the cotters' sheds, So here and there pull out the thatch That they may hide their heads. And as the sweeping swallows stop Their flights along the green, Leave holes within the chimney-top To paste their nest between, Stick shelves and cupboards round the hut, In all the holes and nooks; Nor in the corner fail to put A cupboard for the books. Along the floor some sand I'll sift, To make it fit to live in; And then I'll thank ye for the gift, As something worth the giving. JOHN CLARE 94

·TALES OF LONG AGO
PUCK'S SONG
Sre you the dimpled track that runs,
All Hollow through the wlicar?
that was where they buzuled the guns
Thuat amote King Philip's fect.
fire you our little mill that clacks,
So busy try thic brook?
She has round her corn and paid her tax
Bscr einec Doomsday Pik
Ece you our trilly spoils of oak,
And the dread durch ihreid?
O that was wiscretlie Saxons brokc,
On the day that I Jarold died.
fore you the vindy levels spread
'Alrout the cases of Ryc?
Othat was where thic Yorilinen fled,
When Alfred's chips casne hy.
you our pastures nide and lone,
Where the red oxen bronse?
Otse was a City thronzed and known,
Ere London lyraster a house.
05

·TALES OF LONG AGO Rudely plucked from their hiding, Never a word they spoke: A son and his aged father- Last of the dwarfish folk. The king sat high on his charger, He looked on the little men; And the dwarfish and swarthy couple Looked at the king again. Down by the shore he had them; And there on the giddy brink- “I will give you life, ye vermin, For the secret of the drink." There stood the son and father And they looked high and low; The heather was red around them, The sea rumbled below. And up and spoke the father, Shrill was his voice to hear: “I have a word in private, A word for the royal ear. "Life is dear to the aged, And honour a little thing; I would gladly sell the secret," Quoth the Pict to the king. His voice was small as a sparrow's, And shrill and wonderful clear; "I would gladly sell my secret, Only my son'I fear. 98

·ROZZRT LOCIS SYDSOS:
"For life is a little mine:
And death is nouzbr to the young
And I dare not sell my honour
Under the eye of my son.
Take him, o bisy, and biod him,
And cast him far in the deep;
And it's I will tell the secret
That I have smom to keep."
They took the son and bound him,
Neck and heels in a thouz.
And a lad took hird and swung
Add fung him far and strong,
And the sea szallowed his body,
Like that of a child of ten;
And there on the clift stood the father,
La of the drartih meri
him.
True tras the word I told you:
Oaly ms son I feared;
For I doubt the sapling courage
That
goes without the beard.
But now in rain is the torture,
Fire shall beter arai):
Here dies in my bosom
The scaet of Haber Ale"
ROELET LOLTS STEVENSON
97

·TALES OF LONG AGO
EARL MAR'S DAUGHTER
It was intill a pleasant time,
Upon a summer's day,
The noble Earl Mar's daughter
Went forth to sport and play.
And as she play'd and sported
oak tree,
Below a green
There she saw a sprightly doo?
Set on a branch sae hie.
"O Coo-my-doo, my Love so true,
If ye'll come down to me,
Ye'll have a cage of good red gold
Instead o'simple tree.
“I'll put gold hingers? roun' your cage,
And siller round your wa',
I'll gar ye shine as fair a bird
As any o' them a'."
And she had not these words well spoke,
Nor yet these words well said,
Till Coo-my-doo flew from the tower
And lighted on her head.
Then she has brought this pretty bird
Home to her bower and ha',
1 Dove. 2 Hangings.
Make.
100

·ANONYMOUS
And made him shine as fair a bird
As any of them a'.
When day was gone and night was come,
About the evening.tide,
This lady spied a sprightly youth
Stand straight up by her side.
"O who are ye, young man?" she said,
"What country come ye frae?"
"I flew across the sea," he said,
""Twas but this very day.
"My mither is a queen," he says,
"Likesise of magic skill;
Twas she that turn'd me in' a doo,
To fly where'er I will.
"And it was but this very day
That I came D'er the sea;
I loved you at a single look;
With you I'll live and dee."
"O Coo-my-doo, my Love so true,
No more from me ye'll gae
"That's never my intent, my Love:
As ye said, it shall be sae.
Thus he has stay'd in boter with her
For twenty years and three;
Till there came a lord of high renown
To court this fair ladge.
So also. p. 103. "My stien sons in syen swans."
101

·TALES OF LONG AGO
But still his proffer she refused,
And all his presents too;
Says, “I'm content to live alone
With my bird Coo-my-doo."
7
Her father sware a solemn oath,
Among the nobles all,
"To-morrow, ere I eat or drink,
That bird I'll surely kill.”
The bird was sitting in his cage,
And heard what he did say;
He jump'd upon the window-sill:
'Tis time I was away."
66
Then Coo-my-doo took flight and flew
Beyond the raging sea,
And lighted at his mither's castle,
On a tower of gold sae hie.
The Queen his mither was walking out,
To see what she could see,
And there she saw her darling son
Set on the tower sae hie.
“Get dancers here to dance," she said,
"And minstrels for to play;
For here's my dear son Florentine
Come hame wi' me to stay."
"Instead of dancers to dance, mither,
Or minstrels for to play,
102

·ANONYMOUS
Turn four-and-twenty well-wight' men
Like storks, in feathers gray;
"My seven sons in seven swans,
Above their heads to fice;
And I myself a gay goshawk,
A bird o' high degree."
This flock of birds took flight and flew
Beyond the raging sea;
They landed near the Earl Mar's castle,
Took shelter in every tree.
These birds flew up from bush and tree,
And lighted on the ha';
And when the wedding-train came forth,
Flew down among them a'.
The storks they seized the boldest men,
That they could nor fight nor flee,
The swans they bound the bridegroom fast
Unto a greep oak tree.
They flew around the bride-maidens,
Then on the bride's own head;
And with the twinkling of an eye,
The bride and they were fled.
ANONYMOUS
owerful, stalwart
some versions of this ballad Coo-my-doo spent seven yean
Earl Mar's daughter, during which time she procentas
seven sons.
103

·TALES OF LONG AGO THE DANES Their sails, as black as a starless night, Came moving on, with a sullen might; Rows of gleaming shields there hung, Over the gunwales in order slung; And the broad black banners fluttered and flapped Like raven's pinions, as dipped and lapped The Norsemen's galleys; their axes shone; Every Dane had a hauberk on-- Glittering gold; how each robber lord Waved in the air his threatening swordi One long swift rush through surf and foam And they leapt, ere the rolling wave had gone, On our Saxon shore, their new-found home. GEORGE WALTER THORNBURY THE TWA BROTHERS There were twa brothers at the school, And when they got awam It's “Will ye play at the stane-chucking, Or will ye play at ba', Or will ye gae up to yon hill head? And there we'll warsell a fa'." "I winna play at the stane-chucking, Nor will I play at ba', But I'll gae up to yon bonnie green hill, And there we'll warsell a fa'." 1 There are several versions of this ballad. 104

·ANONYMOUS
They warsled up, they warsled down,
Till John fell to the ground;
A dirk fell out of William's pouch
And gave John a deadly wound.
"O lift me up upon your back,
Tak me to yon well fair,
And wash my bluidy wounds o'er and o'er,
And they'll ne'er bleed nae mair."
He's lifted his brother upon his back,
Ta'en him to yon well fair;
He's washed his bluidy wounds o'er and
o'er,
But they bleed ay inair and mair.
"Tak' aff, tak'aff my holland sark,
And rive' it gair by gair,
And row it in my bluidy wounds,
And they'll ne'er bleed nae mair."
He's taken aff his holland sark,
And torn it gair by gair;
He's row it in hus bluidy wounds,
But they bleed ay mair and mair.
"O tak' now aff my green cleiding,
And row me saftly in;
And carry me up yon kirk style,
Where the grass grows fair and green."
1 Tear. Dab Carry.
105
D*

·TALES OF LONG AGO But say He's taken aff the green cleiding, And rowed him saftly in; He's laid him down by yon kirk style, Where the grass grows fair and green. "What will ye say to your father dear, When ye gae home at e'en? "- "I'll say ye're lying at yon kirk style, Where the grass grows fair and green."- "O no, O no, my brother dear, O you must not say so; I'm gone to a foreign land, Where nae man does me know." When he sat in his father's chair, He grew baith pale and wan. "O what blude's that upon your brow? And where is your brother John?”- " It is the blude o' my gude grey steed He wouldna ride wi' me. "O thy steed's blude was ne'er sae red, Nor ne'er sae dear to me! "O what blude's that upon your cheek? O dear son, tell to me! It is the blude of my greyhound, He wouldna hunt for me.". >> “O thy hound's blude was ne'er sae rede Nor ne'er sae dear to me; O what blude's this upon your hand? O dear son, tell to me.' 106

·ANONYMOUS
" It is the blude of my gay gosshawk,
He wadna flee for me."
"O thy hawk's blude was ne'er sae red,
Nor ne'er sae dear to me;
"O what blude's this upon your dirk?
Dear Willie, tell to me."
"It is the blude of my ae brother,
And dule and wae is met
"O what sall I say to your mither?
Dear Willie, tell to me."
"I'll saddle my steed and awa' I'N ride
To dwell in some far countrie."
"O when will ye come hame again?
Dear Willie, tell to me."
"When the sun and moon dance on yon
green;
And that will never bel"
ANONYMOUS
THE HEART OF THE BRUCE
It was upon an April morn,
While yet the frost lay hoar,
We heard Lord James's bugle-hora
Sound by the rocky shore.
Then down we went, a hundred knights.
All in our dark array,
107

·TALES OF LONG AGO 66 When ye gae He's taken aff the green cleiding, And rowed him saftly in; He's laid him down by yon kirk style, Where the grass grows fair and green. 'What will ye say to your father dear, home at e'en?" "I'll say ye're lying at yon kirk style, Where the grass grows fair and green."- “O no, o no, my brother dear, O you must not say so; But say I'm gone to a foreign land, Where nae man does me know.” When he sat in his father's chair, He grew baith pale and wan. "O what blude's that upon your brow? And where is your brother John?"- "It is the blude o' my gude grey steed- He wouldna ride wi me. "O thy steed's blude was ne'er sae red, Nor ne'er sae dear to mel. “O what blude's that upon your cheek? O dear son, tell to me! "It is the blude of my greyhound, He wouldna hunt for me.”. "O thy hound's blude was ne'er sae red, Nor ne'er sae dear to me; O what blude's this upon your hand? O dear son, tell to me.' 106

·ANONYMOUS
" It is the blude of my gay gosshawk,
He wadna fice for me."
"O thy hawk's blude was ne'er sae red,
Nor ne'er sac dear to me;
"O what blude's this upon your dirk?
Dear Willie, tell to me."
"It is the blude of my ae brother,
And dule and wae is mel"-
"O what sall I say to your mither?
Dear Willie, tell to me."-
"I'll saddle may steed and awa' I'll ride
To dwell in some far countrie." -
"O when will ye come hame again?
Dear Willie, tell to me."
"When the sun and moon dance on yon
green;
And that will never bel"
ANONYMOUS
THE HEART OF THE BRUCE
It was upon an Apnl morn,
While yet the frost lay hoar,
We heard Lord James's bugle-horo
Sound by the rocky shore.
Then down we went, a hundred knights,
All in our dark array,
107

·TALES OF LONG AGO And flung our armour in the ships That rode within the bay. We spoke not as the shore grew less, But gazed in silence back, Where the long billows swept away The foam behind our track. And aye the purple hues decayed Upon the fading hill, And but one heart in all the ship Was tranquil, cold, and still. The good Lord Douglas paced the deck Oh, but his face was wan! Unlike the flush it used to wear When in the battle van.- “Come hither, I pray, my trusty knight, Sir Simon of the Lee; There is a freit lies near my soul, I needs must tell to thee. “Thou know'st the words King Robert spoke Upon his dying day: How he bade me take his noble heart And carry it far away; * And lay it in the holy soil Where once the Saviour trod, Since he might not bear the blessed Cross, Nor strike one blow for God. 1 An ill omen. 108 ·W. E. AYTOUN * Last night as on my bed I lay, I dreamed a dreary dream: Methought I saw a Pilgrim stand In the moonlight's quirering beam. "His robe was of the azure dye- Snow-white his scattered hairs And even such a cross he bore As good Saint Andrew bears. 'Why go ye farth, Lord James,' he said, With spear and belted brand) Why do you take its dearest pledge From this our Scottish land? "'The sultry breeze of Galilee Creeps through its groves of palm, The olives on the Holy Mount Stand glittering in the calm. **But 'tis not there that Scotland's heart Shall rest, by God's decree, Till the great angel calls the dead To rise from earth and sea! "Lord James of Douglas, mark my rede! That heart shall pass once more In fiery fight against the foe, As it was wont of yore. ** And it shall pass beneath the Cross And save King Robert's TOK; But other hands shall bear it back, Not, James of Douglas, thout' 109 ·TALES OF LONG AGO “Now, by thy knightly faith, I pray, Sir Simon of the Lee For truer friend had never man Than thou hast been to me "If ne'er upon the Holy Land 'Tis mine in life to tread, Bear thou to Scotland's kindly earth The relics of her dead." The tear was in Sir Simon's eye As he wrung the warrior's hand- "Betide me weal, betide me woe, I'll hold by thy command. "But if in battle-front, Lord James, 'Tis ours once more to ride, Nor force of man, nor craft of fiend, Shall cleave me from thy side!” And aye we sailed, and aye we sailed, Across the weary sea, Until one morn the coast of Spain Rose grimly on our lee. And as we rounded to the port, Beneath the watch-tower's wall, We heard the clash of the atabals, And the trumpet's wavering call. Why sounds yon Eastern music here So wantonly and long, 1 Kettle-drums used by the Moors. 110 ·W. E. AYTOUX And whose the crowd of armed men That round yon standard throng?' The Moors have come from Africa To spoil, and faste, and slay, And King Alonzo of Castile Must fight with them today." "Now shame it were," cried good Lord James, "Shall never be said of me, That I and mine have turned aside From the Cross in jeopardie! "Have down, have down, my merry men all- Have down unto the plain; We'll let the Scottish lion loose Within the fields of Spain! "Now welcome to me, noble lord, Thou and thy stalwart power; Dear is the sight of a Christian knight, Who comes in such an hour! "Is it for bond or faith you come, Or yet for golden fee? Or bring ye France's lilies here, Or the flower of Burgundie?" "God greet thee well, thou valiant king, Thee and thy belted peers Sir James of Douglas and I called, And these are Scottish spears. 111

·TALES OF LONG AGO
"We do not fight for bond or plight,
Nor yet for golden fee;
But for the sake of our Blessed Lord
Who died upon the tree.
"We bring our great King Robert's heart
Across the weltering wave,
To lay it in the holy soil
Hard by the Saviour's grave.
“True pilgrims we, by land or sea,
Where danger bars the way;
And therefore are we here, Lord King,
To ride with thee this day!"
The king has bent his stately head,
And the tears were in his eynem
"God's blessing on thee, noble knight,
For this brave thought of thine!
"I know thy name full well, Lord James;
And honoured may I be,
That those who fought beside the Bruce
Should fight this day for me!
"Take thou the leading of the van,
And charge the Moors amain;
There is not such a lance as thine
In all the host of Spain!”
The Douglas turned towards us then,
Oh, but his glance was high!
“There is not one of all my men
But is as frank as I.
112

·W, E AYTOUN "There is not one of all my knights But bears as true a spear- Then onwards, Scottish gentlemen, And think, King Robert's here! " The trumpets blew, the cross-bolts flew, The arrows flashed like flame, As, spur in side, and spear in rest, Against the foe we came. And many a bearded Saracen Went down, both borse and man: For through their ranks we rode like com, So furiously we ran! But in behind our path they closed, Though fain to let us through; For they were forty thousand mea, And we were wondrous few, We might not see a lance's length, So dense was their array, But the long fell sweep of the Scottish blade Still held them hard at bay. "Make in, make in!" Lord Douglas cried- "Make in, my brethren dearl Sir William of St. Clair is down; We may not leave him here! " But thicker, thicker grew the swarm, And sharper shot the rain; And the horses reared amid the press, But they would not charge again. 113 ·TALES OF LONG AGO "Now Jesu help thee," said Lord James, “Thou kind and true St. Clairi An if I may not bring thee off, I'll die beside thee there!" 1 Then in his stirrups up he stood, So lion-like and bold, And held the precious heart aloft All in its case of gold. He flung it from him far ahead, And never spake he more, But--"Pass thee first, thou dauntless heart, As thou wert wont of yore! The roar of fight rose fiercer yet, And heavier still the stour, Till the spears of Spain came shivering in, And swept away the Moor. "Now praised be God, the day is won! They fiy o'er flood and fell Why dost thou draw the rein so hard, Good knight, that fought so well?” “Oh, ride ye on, Lord King!” he said, And leave the dead to me; For I must keep the dreariest watch That ever I shall dreel 2 66 “There lies above his master's heart, The Douglas, stark and grim; 1 Conflict. . Endure. 114 ·W. E. AYTOUN And woe, that I am living man, Not lying there by him! "The world grows cold, my arm is old, Aod thin my lgart' hair, And all that I loved best on earth Is stretched before me there. "O Bothwell banks, that bloom so bright Beneath the sun of May! The heaviest cloud that ever blew Is bound for you this day. "And, Scotland, thou may'st veil thy head In sorrow and in pain: The sorese stroke upon thy brow Hath fallen this day in Spaint "We'll bear them back upto our ship, We'll bear them o'er the sea, And lay them in the hallowed earth, Within our own countrie. "And be thou strong of heart, Lord King For this I tell thee sure, The sod that drank the Douglas' blood Shall never bear the Moori The King he lighted from his horse, He flung his brand away, And took the Douglas by the hand, So stately as he lay. Silvery grey. 115 ·TALES OF LONG AGO land were gone "God give thee rest, thou valiant soul! That fought so well for Spain; I'd rather half my So thou wert here again! We lifted thence the good Lord James, And the priceless heart he bore; And heavily we steered our ship Towards the Scottish shore. No welcome greeted our return, Nor clang of martial tread, But all were dumb and hushed as death, Before the mighty dead. We laid our chief in Douglas Kirk, The heart in fair Melrose; And woeful men were we that day. God grant their souls reposel W. E. AYTOUN LORD ULLIN'S DAUGHTER A Chieftain to the Highlands bound Cries, "Boatman, do not tarry! And I'll give thee a silver pound To row us o'er the ferry! "Now who be ye would cross Lochgyle, This dark and stormy water?" “O, I'm the chief of Úlva's isle, And this, Lord Ullin's daughter. 116 ·THOMAS CAMPBELL * And fast before her father's men Three days we've fled together, For should he find us in the glen, My blood would stain the heather. *His horsemen hard behind us ride- Should they our steps discover. Then who will cheer my bonny bride When they have slain her lover?" Out spoke the hardy Highland sight "I'll go, my chief, I'm ready: It is not for your silver bright But for your winsome lady:- "And by my word! the bonny bird In danger shall not tarry; So though the waves are raging white I'll row you o'er the ferry." By this the storm grex loud apace, The water-wraith was shrieking; And in the scowl of heaven each face Grew dark as they were speaking. But still as wilder blew the wind, And as the night grew drearer, Adown the glen rode armed men, Their trampling sounded nearer. "O haste thee, haste!" the lady cries, “Though tempests round us gather; I'll meet the raging of the skies, But not an angry father." 117 ·TALES OF LONG AGO The boat has left a stormy land, A stormy sea before her- When, Ol too strong for human hand The tempest gathered o'er her. And still they rowed amidst the roar Of waters fast prevailing: Lord Ullin reached that fatal shore,- His wrath was changed to wailing. For, sore dismayed, through storm and shade His child he did discover: One lovely hand she stretched for aid, And one was round her lover. "Come back! come back!” he cried in grief, Across this stormy water: And I'll forgive your Highland chief, My daughter- my daughter! 'Twas vain: the wild waves lashed the shore, Return or aid preventing: The waters wild went o'er his child, And he was left lamenting. THOMAS CAMPBELL A FAREWELL Go fetch to me a pint o' wine, An' fill it in a silver tassie; That I may drink before I go A service to my bonnie lassie: 118 ·ROBERT BURNS The boat rocks at the pier o' Leith, Fu' loud the wind blaws frae the ferry, The ship rides by the Berwick-la, And I maun leave my bonnie Mary. The trumpets sound, the banners lg, The glittering spears are ranked ready; The shouts o' war are heard afar, The battle closes thick and bloody; But it's no the roar o sea or shore Wad make me langer wish to tarry; Nor shout o' war that's heard afar- It's leaving thee, my bonnie Mary. ROBERT BURNS ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN When Robin Hood was about twenty years old, He happened to meet Little John, A jolly, brisk blade, right fit for the trade, For he was a lusty young man. Though he sas called Little, his limbs they were large And his stature was seven foor high; Wherever he came, they quaked at his name, For soon he would make them to fly. How they 'came acquainted, I'll tell you la brief, If you will but listen auhile; For this very jest, among all the test, I think it may cause you to smile. 119 ·TALES OF LONG AGO $$ Bold Robin Hood said to his jolly bowmen, “Pray tarry you here in this grove; And see that you all observe well my call, While thorough? the forest I rove. We have had no sport for these fourteen long days Therefore now abroad will I go; Now should I be beat, and cannot retreat, My horn I will presently2 blow." Then did he shake hands with his merry men all, And bid them at present good-bye: Then, as near a brook his journey he took, A stranger he chanced to espy. They happened to meet on a long narrow bridge, And neither of them would give way; Quoth bold Robin Hood, and sturdily stood, " I'll show you right Nottingham play.” With that from his quiver an arrow he drew, A broad arrow with a goose-wing. The stranger replied, “I'}} liquor thy hide, If thou offerest to touch the string." Quoth bold Robin Hood: "Thou dost prate like an ass, For were I to bend but my bow, I could send a dart quite through thy proud heart, Before thou could'st strike me one blow." * Thou talk'st like a coward,” the stranger replied, “Well armed with a long boty you stand "No thoroughfare." Immediately. 1 We still say, 120

·ANONYMOUS
ſo shoot at my breast, while 1, I protest.
Have nought but a staff in my hand."
*The same of a coward," quoth Robin, "I scorn.
Wherefore my long bow I'll lay by;
And now, for thy sake, a staff will I take,
The truth of thy manhood to try."
Then Robin Hood stepped to a thicket of trees,
And chose him a staff of ground oak;
Now this being done, away he did run
To the stranger, and merrily spoke:
"Lol see my staff: it is lusty and cough,
Now here on the bridge we will play;
(Vhoerer falls in, the other shall win
The battle, and so we'll away."
With all my whole heart," the stranger replied.
"I scom in the least to give out."
This said, they fell to 't sithout more dispute,
And their stalis they did flourish about.
And first Robin Hood gave the stranger a bang,
So hard that it made his bones ring.
The stranger he said: “This must be repaid,
I'll give you as good as you bring.
* So long as I'm able to handle my staff,
To dhe in your debt, frieod, I scorn."
Then to it each goes, and followed their blows,
As if they'd been threshing of com.
121

·TALES OF LONG AGO The stranger gave Robin a crack on the crown, Which caused the blood to appear; Then Robin enraged, more fiercely engaged, And followed with blows more severe. So thick and so fast did he lay it on him, With a passionate fury and ire; At every stroke he made him to smoke As if he had been all on fire. O then into fury the stranger he grew, And gave him a terrible look, And with it a blow that laid him full low, And tumbled him into the brook. "I pray thee, good fellow, O where art thou nov The stranger in laughter he cried. Quoth bold Robin Hood: Good faithl in the f And floating along with the tide. "I needs must acknowledge thou art a brave so With thee I'll no longer contend; For needs must I say, thou hast got Our battle shall be at an end. Then unto the bank he did presently wade, And pulled himself out by a thorn; Which done, at the last, he blew a loud blast Straightway on his fine bugle-horn. The echo of which through the valleys did At which his stout bowmen appeared, All clothed in green, most gay to be seen, So up to their master they steered. the day, 97 122 ·ASONTZIOUS O, what's the matter?" quoth William Stuteleigh, "Good master, you are wet to the skin." No matter! " quoth he. “The lad which you see, In fighting haih tumbled me in." He shall not go scot-free! ” the others replied; So straight they were seizing him there, Co duch him likewise. But Robin Hood cries, "He is a stout fellow! Forbear! There's no one shall wrong thee, friend. Be not afraid, These bowmen upon me do wait; here's threescore and nine. If thou wilt be mine, Thou shalt have my livery straight. And other accoutrements fit for a man; Speak up, jolly blade, never fear Il teach you also the use of the bow, To shoot at the fat fallow deer" O, here is my hand," the stranger Teplied, "I'll serve you with all my whole heart, My name is John Little, a man of good metule. Ne'er doubt me, for I'll play my part." His name shall be altered," quoth Williams Stureleigh. "And I will his godfather be Prepare then a ſcast, and none of the least, For se will be merryi" quoth he They presently fetched in a brace of fat does, With humming strong liquor likewise. They loved what was good; so in the greenwood This pretty ssseet babe they baptize. 123

·TALES OF LONG AGO
He was, I must tell you, but seven foot high,
And, maybe, an ell in the waist.
A pretty sweet lad! Much feasting they had.
Bold Robin the christening graced,
With all his bowmen, who stood in a ring,
And were of the Nottingham breed.
Brave Stuteleigh comes then, with seven yeomèn,
And did in this manner proceed.
"This infant was called John Little,” quoth he.
"Which name shall be changed anon.
The words we'll transpose; so wherever he goes,
His name shall be called Little John."
They all with a shout made the elements ring;
So soon as the office was o'er,
To fcasting they went with true merriment,
And tippled strong liquor galore.
Then Robin he took the pretty sweet babe,
And clothed him from top to the toe
In garments of green, most gay to be seen,
And gave him a curious long bow.
“Thou shalt be an archer as well as the best,
And range in the greenwood with us,
Where we'll not want gold nor silver, behold,
While bishops have aught in their purse.
"We live here like squires or lords of renown,
Without e'er a foot of free land:
We feast on good cheer, with wine, ale, and 1
And everything at our command."
124

·ANONYMOUS
Then music and danciag did finish the day.
At length, when the sun waxed low,
Then all the whole train the grove did refrain,
And unto their caves did they go.
And so, ever after, as long as he lived,
Although he was proper and tall,
Yet, nevertheless, the truth to express,
Sul Little John they did him call.
ANONYMOUS
ROBIN HOOD AND THE WIDOW'S THREE SONS
46
There are twelve months in all the year,
As I hear many say,
But the merriest month in all the year
Is the merry month of May
Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,
Il'ith a link a down and a day,
And there he met a silly old woman,
Was weeping on the way.
Whar news? what news? thou silly old woman,
What news last thou for me?"
Said she, "There's my three sons in Nortingham town
Today condemned to die."
"O what have they donc?" said Robin Hood.
ргзу.
thec tell to me."
* It's for staying the king's fallos deer,
Bearing their long bows with thee."
125

·TALES OF LONG AGO
"Dost thou not mind, old woman," he said,
“How thou madest me sup and dine?
By the truth of my body," quoth bold Robin Hood,
You could not tell it in better time."
Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,
With a link a down and a day,
And there he met with a silly' old palmer,
Was walking along the highway.
"What news? what news? thou silly old man,
What news, I do thee pray?
Said he, " Three squires in Nottingham town
Are condemned to die this day.”-
"Come change thy apparel with me, old man,
Come change thy apparel for mine;
Here is forty shillings in good silver,
Go drink it in beer or wine."-
"O thine apparel is good,” he said,
And mine is ragged and torn;
Wherever you go, wherever you ride,
Laugh not an old man to scorn.
Come change thy apparel with me, old chur),
Come change thy apparel with mine;
Here are twenty pieces of good broad gold,
Go feast thy brethren with wine."
Then he put on the old man's hat,
It stood full high on the crown:
1 Innocent.
126

·AVOXYMOUS
*The first bold bargain that I conac at,
It shall make thee come down."
Then he put on the old man's cloak,
Was parched black, blue, and red;
He thought it no shame, all the day long,
To sear the bags of bread,
Then he put on the old man's breeks,
Was patched from middle to side:
By the truth of my body." bold Robin gan say.
“This man loved little pride."
Then he put on the old man's hose,
Were pacched from knec to trist:
"By the truth of my body," said bold Robin Hood.
"I'd laugh if I had any list."
Then he put on the old man's shoes,
Were parched both beneath and aboon;
Then Robin Hood swore a solemn oath,
"It's good habit that makes a man."
Now Robin Hood is to Noruingham gone
With a link a doton and a doon,
And there he met with the proud sheriff,
Was walking along the town,
"Save you, save you, sheriffl " he said;
"Now heaven you sare and scel
And what will you give to a silly old man
Today will your hangman be?"
127

·TALES OF LONG AGO 66 Some suits, some suits," the sheriff he said, “Some suits I'll give to thee; Some suits, some suits and pence thirteen, Today's a hangman's fee.” Then Robin he turns him round about, And jumps from stock to stone: "By the truth of my body," the sheriff he said, That's well jumped, thou .nimblc old man." "I was ne'er a hangman in all my life, Nor yet intends to trade; But curst be he," said bold Robin, "That first a hangman was made! *I've a vag for meal, and a bag for malt, And a bag for barley and corn; A bag for bread and a bag for beef, And a hag for my little small horn. “I have a horn in my pocket, I got it from Robin Hood, And still when I set it to my mouth, For thee it blows little good." "O, wind thy horn, thou proud fellow! Of thee I have no doubt; I wish that thou give such a blast, Till both thy eyes fall out." The first loud blast that he did blow, He blew both loud and shrill; A hundred and fifty of Robin Hood's men Came riding over the hill. 128 ·13 ANONYMOUS The oext loud blast that he did gire, He blew both loud and amain, And quickly sixty of Robin Hood's men Came shining over the plain. Owlio are those," the sheriff he said, "Come tripping over the lec? " They're my attendants," brave Robin did say, "They'll pay a visit to thee." They took the gallows from the slack, They set it in the glen, They hanged the proud sheriff on that.. Released their own three men. ANONYMOUS THE HIGH TIDE ON THE COAST OF LINCOLNSHIRE, 1571 The old mayor climbed the belfry tower, The ringers ran by two, by three; "Pull, if ye never pulled before; Good ringers, pull your best," quoth he. Play up, play up, o Boston bells! Play all your changes, all your swells, Play up The Brides of Enderby '! " Men say it was a stolen tide- The Lord that sent it, He knows all; But in mine ears doth still abide that the bells let fall: "A slight dip in the ground 413 129 The message E ·TALES OF LONG AGO And there was naught of strange, beside The flights of mews and peewits pied, By millions crouched on the old sea-wall. I sat and spun within the door, My thread brake off, I raised mine eyes; The level sun, like ruddy ore, Lay sinking in the barren skies; And dark against day's golden death She moved where Lindis wandereth, My son's fair wife, Elizabeth. "Cushal Cushal Cushal " calling, Ere the early dews were falling, Far away 'I heard her song, “Cushal Cusha!” all along, Where the reedy Lindis floweth, Floweth, floweth, From the meads where melick' groweth, Faintly came her milking-song. Cushal Cushal Cushal" calling, "For the dews will soon be falling; Leave your meadow grasses mellow, Mellow, mellow; Quit your cowslips, cowslips yellow; Come up, Whitefoot; come up, Lightfoot; Quit the stalks of parsley hollow, Hollow, hollow; Come up, Jetty, rise and follow, From the clovers lift your head; 1 A kind of grass. 130 ·.. JEAY ZYGELOW Come up, Whitefoot; come up, Lightfooti Come up, Jetty, rise and follow, Jetty, to the milking-shed.” If it be long, age, long ago; When I begin to think how long, Again I hear the Lindis flow, Swift as an arrow, sharp and strong; And all the air, it seemcth me, Bin full of floating bells (saith she), That ring the tune of Enderby. All fresh the level pasture lay. And not a shadow might be seen, Save where full five good miles away The steeple towered from out the green; And lol the great bell far and wide Was heard in all the countryside That Saturday at eventide. The swanherds where their sedges are Moved on in sunset's golden breath, The shepherd lads I heard afar, And my son's wife, Elizabeth; Till floating o'er the grassy sea Came down that kindly message fres The Brides of Maris Enderby." Then some looked up into the sky, And all along where Lindis flows To where the goodly vessels lie, And where the lorrly steeple show. 131 ·TALES OF LONG AGO They said, “And why should this thing be? What danger lowers by land or sea? They ring the tune of Enderby! "For evil news from Mablethorpe, Of pirate galleys warping down; For ships ashore beyond the scorpe, They have not spared to wake the town; But while the west bin red to see, And storms be none, and pirates flee, Why ring 'The Brides of Enderby '? " I looked without, and lol my son Came riding down with might and main: He raised a shout as he drew on, Till all the welkin rang again, “Elizabeth! Elizabeth! (A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath Than my son's wife, Elizabeth.) * The old sea-wall" (he cried) “is down, The rising tide comes on apace, And boats adrift in yonder town Go sailing up the market-place.” He shook as one that looks on death: "God save you, mother! " straight he saith; "Where is my wife, Elizabeth?" “Good son, where Lindis winds away, With her two bairns I marked her long; yon bells began to play, Afar I'hcard her milking-song." Steep face of the hill. 132 And ere

·JEAN ISCELOW
He looked across the grassy sea,
To right, to left, "Ho, Enderby! "
They rang "The Brides of Enderby?"
With that he cried and beat his breast;
For lot along the river's bed
A mighty eygre' reared his crest,
And up the Lindis raging sped.
It swept with thunderous noises loud;
Shaped like a curling, snow-white cloud,
Or like a demon in a shroud.
And rearing Lindis backward pressed,
Shook all her trembling banks amain;"
Then madly at the eygre's breast
Flung up her weltering walls again.
Then banks came down with ruin and rout
Then bcaten foam flew round about
Then all the mighty floods were out.
So far, so fast the eygre drave,
The heart had hardly time to beat
Before a shallow, seething wave
Sobbed in the grasses at our feet;
The feet had hardly time to flee
Before it brake against the knee,
And all the world was in the sea,
Upon the roof we sat that night,
The noise of bells went sweeping by:
1 Tidal wave
With violence.
133

·2 TALES OF LONG AGO I marked the lofty beacon light Stream from the church-tower, red and high A lurid mark and dread to see; And awesome bells they were to me, That in the dark rang “ Enderby.” They rang the sailor lads to guide From roof to roof who fearless rowed; And I--my son was at my side, And yet the ruddy beacon glowed: And yet he moaned beneath his breath, "O come in life, or come in death! O lostl my love, Elizabeth.” And didst thou visit him no more? Thou didst, thou didst, my daughter dear! The waters laid thee at his door, Ere yet the early dawn was clear. Thy pretty bairns in fast embrace, The lifted sun shone on thy face, Down drifted to thy dwelling-place. That flow strewed wrecks about the grass; That ebb swept out the flocks to sea; A fatal ebb and flow, alas! To many more than mine and me: But each will mourn his own (she saith), And sweeter woman ne'er drew breath Than my son's wife, Elizabeth. I shall never hear her more By the reedy Lindis shore, 134 ·JCAN EVGELOW *Cushal Cushal Cushal" calling, Ere the early dews be falling; I shall never hear her song, * Cushal Cushal" all along, Where the sunny Lindis floweth, Goeth, floweth; From the meads where melick growerh, When the water, winding down, Onward floweth to the town. I shall never see her more Where the reeds and rushes quiver, Shiver, quiver; Stand beside the sohbing river, Sobbing, throbbing, in its falling To the sandy, lonesome shore, I shall never hear her calling, 'Leare your meadow grasses mellow, Mellow, mellory; Quit your cowslips, cowslips yellow; Come up, Whitefoot; come up, Lightfoot; Quit your pipes of parsley hollou., Hollow, hollow; Come up, Lightfoot, rise and follow: Lightfoot, Whitefoot, From your clovers lift the head; Come up, Jetty, follow, follow, Jetty, to the milking-shed.” JEAN NCELOW 135

·TALES OF LONG AGO
THE SPANISH ARMADO
Some years of late, in eighty-eight,
As I do well remember,
It was, some say, the middle of May,
And some say in September,
And some say in September.
The Spanish train launched forth amain,
With many a fine bravado,
Their (as they thought, but it proved not)
Invincible Armado,
Invincible Armado.
There was a man that dwelt in Spain,
Who shot well with a gun a,
Don Pedro hight, as black a wight
As the Knight of the Sun a,
As the Knight of the Sun a.
King Philip made him Admiral,
And bade him not to stay a,
But to destroy both man and boy
And so to come away a,
And so to come away a.
Their navy was well-victuallèd
With bisket, pease, and bacon,
They brought two ships, well fraught with whips,
But I think they were mistaken,
But I think they were mistaken.
136

·ANONYMOUS
Their men were young, munition strong,
And to do us more harm a,
They thought it meet to join their fleet
Alf with the Prince of Parma,
All with the Prince of Parma.
They coasted round about our land,
And so came in by Dover:
But we had men set on 'em then,
And threw the rascals over,
And threw the rascals over.
The Queen was then at Tilbury,
What could we more desire a?
Sir Francis Drake for her sweet sake
Did set them all on fire a,
Did set them all on fire a.
Then straight they fled by sea and land,
1.
Then let them neither bray nor boast,
But if they come again a,
Let them take heed they do not speed
As they did you know when a,
As they did you know when a.
ANONYMOUS
137
13

·TALES OF LONG AGO
MARY AMBREE
When captains courageous, whom death could not
daunt,
Did march to the siege of the city of Gaunt,
They mustered their soldiers by two and by three,
And the foremost in battle was Mary Ambree.
When the brave Sir John Major was slain in her sight,
Who was her true lover, her joy, and delight,
Because he was slain most treacherouslie,
Then vowed to revenge him, Mary Ambree.
She clothed herself from the top to the toe
In buff of the bravest, most seemly to show;
A fair shirt of mail then slipped on she;
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambrce?
A helmet of proof she straight did provide,
A strong arming sword she girt by her side,
On her hand a goodly fair gauntlet put she;
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambree?
Then took she her sword and her target in hand,
Bidding all such, as would, they might be of her bane
To wait on her person came thousand and three;
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambree?
My soldiers," she saith, so valiant and bold,
Now follow your captain, whom you do behold;
Still foremost in battle myself will I be."
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambree?
138

·ANONYMOUS
Then cried out her soldiers, and loud they did say,
"So well thou becomest this gallant array,
Thy heart and thy weapons so well do agree,
No maiden was ever like Mary Ambree.'
She checrèd her soldiers, that foughten for life,
With ancient and standard, with drum and with fife.
With bravc canging irumpets, that sounded so free;
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambree?
She led up her soldiers in battle array,
'Gainst three times their number by break of the day;
Seven hours in skirmish continued she;
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambree?
She alled the skies with the smoke of her shot,
And ber enemies' bodies with bullets so bot;
For one of her own men a score killed she;
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambree?
And when her false gunner, to spoil her intent,
Away all her pellets and powder had sent,
Straight with her keen weapon she slasht him in three;
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambrce?
Being falsely betrayed for lucre of hire,
At length she was forced to make a retire;
Then her soldiers into a strong castle drew she;
Was not this a brave bonny lass, Mary Ambree?
Her foes they beset her on every side,
As thinking close siege she could never abide;
To beat down the walls they all did decree:
But stoutly defied them brave Mary Ambree.
139

·TALES OF LONG AGO
Thien took she her sword and her target in hand,
And mounting the walls all undaunted did stand,
There daring their captains to match any three;
O what a brave captain was Mary Ambree!
* Now say, English captain, what wouldest thou give
To ransom thyself, which else must not live?
Come yield thyself quickly, or slain thou must be.
Then smiled sweetly brave Mary Ambree.
"Ye captains courageous, of valour so bold,
Whom think
you
before
you now you do behold?"
"A knight, sir, of England, and captain so free,
Who shortly with us a prisoner must be."
"No captain of England; behold in your sight
A woman, my masters, and therefore no knight:
No knight, sirs, of England, nor captain you see,
But a poor simple maiden, called Mary Ambree."
"But art thou a woman, as thou dost declare,
Whose valour hath proved so undaunted in war?
If England doth yield such brave maidens as thee,
Full well may they conquer, fair Mary Ambree."
Then to her own country she back did return,
Still holding the foes of fair England in scorn;
Therefore English captains of every degree
Sing forth the brave valours of Mary Ambree.
ANONYMOUS
140

·ANONYMOUS
THE WINNING OF CALES?
Long the proud Spaniards had vaunted to conquer vs,
Threat'ning our country with fire and sword;
Often preparing their navy most sumptuous,
With as great plenty as Spain could afford.
Dub a dub, dub'a dub, thus strike their drums:
Tantara, lantara, the Englishman comes.
To the seas presently wens our loss admiral,
With knights courageous and captains full good;
The brave Earl of Essex, a prosperous general.
With him prepared to pass the salt Rood.
Dub a dub, etc.
At Plymouth speedily, took they ship valiandy,
Braicr ships never were seen under sail,
With their fair colours spread, and streamers o'er their
head;
Now bragging, Spaniards, cake heed of your rail.
Dub a dub, etc.
Unto Cales cunningly, came ne most speedily,
Where the king's navy securely did ride.
Being upon their backs, piercing their butts of sacks
Ere any, Spaniards our coming descried.
Pub & dub, etc.
Our pilors' corrupt pronunciation of Cadı, captured 31st func

·TALES OF LONG AGO PREPARATIONS > Yet if His Majesty, our sovereign lord, Should of his own accord Friendly himself invite, And say "I'll be your guest to-morrow night, How should we stir ourselves, call and command All hands to work! "Let no man idle stand! "Set me fine Spanish tables in the hall; See they be fitted all; Let there be room to eat And order taken that there want no meat. See every sconce and candlestick made bright, That without tapers they may give a light. "Look to the presence: are the carpets spread, The dazie' o'er the head, The cushions in the chairs, And all the candles lighted on the stairs? Perfume the chambers, and in any case Let each man give attendance in his placelº Thus, if a king were coming, would we do; For 'twere good reason too; For 'tis a duteous thing To show all honour to an earthly king, And after all our travail and our cost, So he be pleased, to think no labour lost. 1 Dais: the canopy over a throne. 144 ·W. M. PRAED But at the coming of the King of Heaven All's sct at six and seven; Wc wallow in our sin, Christ cannot find a chamber in the inn. We entertain Him always like a stranger, Aod, as at first, still lodge Him in the manger. ANONYMOUS (From a MS. at Christ Church) SIR NICHOLAS AT MARSTON MOOR Po horse, 10 horse, Sir Nicholas! the clarion's note is ligh; ro horse, to horse, Sir Nicholas! the huge drum makes reply: Pre this hath Lucas marched with his gallant Cavaliers, And the bray of Rupert's trumpers grows fainter on our cars. To horse, to horse, Sir Nicholas White Guy is at the door, And the vulture whets his beak o'er the field of Marston Moor. Up rose the Lady Alice from her brief and broken prayer, And she brought a silken standard down the narrowy turret stair. Oh, many were the tears that those radiant eyes had shed, As she worked the bright word "Glory " in the gay and glancing thread; 145 ·TALES OF LONG AGO And mournful was the smile that o'er those beauteous features ran, As she said, “It is your lady's gift, unfurl it in the van." " It shall flutter, noble wench, where the best and boldest ride, Through the steel-clad files of Skippon, and the black dragoons of Pride; The recreant soul of Fairfax will feel a sicklier qualm, And the rebel lips of Oliver give out a louder psalm, When they see my lady's gew-gaw flaunt bravely on their wing, And hear her loyal soldiers' shout, 'For God and for the King! 'Tis noon;' the ranks are broken along the royal line; They fly, the braggarts of the Court, the bullies of the Rhine: Stout Langley's cheer is heard no more, and Astley's helm is down, And Rupert sheathes his rapier with a curse and with a frown; And cold Newcastle mutters as he follows in the flight, “The German boar had better far have supped in York to-night.” The Knight is all alone, his steel cap cleft in twain, His good buff jerkin crimsoned o’er with many a gory stain; But still he waves the standard, and cries amid the rout- For Church and King, fair gentlemen; spur on and fight it out!” * A poet's blunder: the battle did not begin until 7 p.m. 146 ·W. M. PRAD And now hc wards a Roundhead's pike, and now he hums a stave, And here be quotes a stage-play, and there he fells a knavc. Good speed to thec, Sir Nicholast thou hast no thought of fear; Good speed to thee, Sir Nicholasi but fearful odds arc here. The traitors ring thee round; and with every blow and thrust, Down, down," they cry," with Belial, down with him to the dust!" 'I would," quoth grim old Oliver, " that Belial's trusty ssyord This day were doing battle for the Saints and for the Lordi" The Lady Alice sits with her maidens in her bower; The grey-haired warden watches on the castle's highest toWCT. - What news, what news, old Anthony? "_" The field is lost and won; The ranks of war are melting as the mists beneath the SUIT; And a wounded man speeds hither,- am old and cannot see, Dr sure I am that sturdy step my master's step should bc." I bring the back the standard from as rude and rough a tray 147 ·TALES OF LONG AGO As e'er was proof of soldier's thews, or theme fo minstrel's lay. Bid Hubert fetch the silver bowl, and liquor quantun suff.; I'll make a shift to drain it, ere I part with boot and buff Though Guy through many a gaping wound is breath ing out his life, And I am come to thee a landless man, my fond and faithful wife! Sweet, we will fill our money-bags and freight a ship for France, And mourn in merry Paris for this poor realm's mis chance; Or if the worst betide me, why, better axe or rope, Than life with Lenthalt for a king, and Peters for a popel Alas, alas, my gallant Guyl-out on the crop-eared boor That sent me with my standard on foot from Marston Moor!” 65 W. M. PRAED THE CAVALIER'S ESCAPE Tramplel tramplel went the roan, Trapl trap! went the gray; But pad! padi padl like a thing that was mad, My chestnut broke away. It was just five miles from Salisbury town, And but one hour to day. 1 Speaker of the House of Commons. * Hugh Peters was Cromwell's chaplain. 28 ·c. W. THORXBURY Thudi thudl came on the heavy roan, Rapl rapl the mettled gray: But my chestnut mare was of hlood so rare, That she showed them all the way. Spur ont spur on? I doſled my hat, And wished them all good day. They splashed through miry rur and pool. Splintered through fence and rail, But chestnut Katc suuched oser the gate, I saw them droop and tail. To Salisbury town, but a mile of down, Over this brook and rail. Traptrap! I heard their echoing hoofs Past the walls of mossy stone, The roan flew on at a staggering pace, But blood is hetter than bone 1 patted old Kate and garc her the spur, For I knew it was all my own. But trample! trample' came their seeds, And I 491 their woll's eyes lourn. I felt like a royal bart ar bay. And made me rcady 10 turn I looked where highest grew the may, And deepest arched she fer I fios ar the first hnarc's sallon that Onc blow, and he was foun The second rogue fired tunc and mcd. 1 sliced the sillain's crown, 149

·1
TALES OF LONG AGO
Clove through the rest, and flogged brave Kate,
Fast, fast, to Salisbury town.
Padl padl they came on the level sward,
Thudl thudl upon
the sand;
With a gleam of swords, and a burning match,
And a shaking of flag and hand.
But one long bound, and I passed the gate,
Safe from the canting band.
G. W. THORNBURY
THE GOLDEN VANITY1
A ship have I got in the North Countree,
And she goes by the name of the Golden Vanitie.
O, I fear she will be taken by a Spanish Ga-la-lee,
As she sails by the Lowlands low.
To the captain then up spake the little cabin-boy,
He said, "What is my fee if the galley I destroy?
The Spanish Ga-la-lee, if no more it shall annoy,
As you sail by the Lowlands low? »
"Of silver and of gold I will give to you a store,
And my pretty little daughter that dwelleth on
shore,
Of treasure and of fee as well I'll give to thee ga
As we sail by the Lowlands low."
1 There are numerous versions of this old ballad: in som
a Turkish, in others a French galley that is sunk.
150

·AXOXYMOUS
Then the boy bared his breast, and straightway he
jumped in,
And he held in his hand an auger sharp and thin,
And he swam until he came to the Spanish galleon,
As she lay by the Locolands 10%.
He bored with the auger; he bored once and twice,
And some were playing cards, and some were playing
dice;
When the water flowed in, it dazzled their cyes,
And she sank by the Lowlands low.
So the cabin-boy did swim all to the larboard side,
Saying: "Caprain, take me'in, I am drifting with the
tidel
"I will shoot you! I will kill you," the cruel captain
cricd,
"You may sink by the Lordlands lop."
Then the cabin-boy did swim all to the starboard side,
Saying." Miessmates, take me in, I am drifting with the
Then they laid him on the deck, and he closed his eyes
and died,
As they sailed by the Lowlands loco.
They sewed his body up, all in an old cow's hide,
And they cast the gallant cabin-boy out over the ship's
side,
And left him without more ado a drifting with the tide.
And to sink by the Lowlands low.
ANONYMOUS
151
tide! "

·TALES OF LONG AGO
THE INCHCAPE ROCK
No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The ship was still as she could be,
Her sails from heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.
Without either sign or sound of their shock
The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.
The worthy Abbot of Aberbrothok
Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock;
On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,
And over the waves its warning rung.
When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell,
The mariners heard the warning bell;
And then they knew the perilous rock
And blessed the Abbot of Aberbrothok.
The sun in heaven was shining gay,
All things were joyful on that day;
The sea-birds screamed as they wheeled round,
And there was joyaunce in the sound.
The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen,
A darker speck on the ocean green;
Sir Ralph the Rover walked his deck,
And he fixed his eye on the darker speck.
152

·ROBERT SOUTIET
But the Rorer's mirth was sickedness.
His cye 123 on the Inchcape float:
Quoth hc, "My men, put out the boat,
And row me to the inclıcape Rock,
And I'll plague the Abbor of Aberbrothok."
The boat is lovered, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,
And be cut the Bell from the lochcape float.
Down sunk the Bell with a gurgling sound,
The bubbles arose and burst around;
Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to
the Rock
Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok."
Sir Ralph the Rover sailed
atvay,
He scoured the seas for many a day;,
And now grown rich with plundered store,
He steers his course for Scotland's shore.
So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky
They cannot see the sun on high;
The wind hath blown a gale all day,
At crening it hath died away.
On the deck the Rover takes his stand,
So dark it is they see no land.
153

·TALES OF LONG AGO
Quoth Sir Ralph, “It will be lighter soon,
For there is the dawn of the rising Moon."
"Canst hear," said one, "the breakers roar?
For methinks we should be near the shore."
"Now where we are I cannot tell,
But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell.”
They hear no sound, the swell is strong;
Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along,
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock
"O Christi it is the Inchcape Rock!"
Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair;
He cursed himself in his despair;
But the waves rush in on every side,
And the vessel sinks beneath the tide,
ROBERT SOUTHEY.
THE LAST BUCCANEER
Oh England is a pleasant place for them that's rich and
high,
But England is a cruel place for such poor folks as I;
And such a port for mariners I'ne'er shall see again
As the pleasant Isle of Avès, beside the Spanish Main.
There were forty craft in Avès that were both swift and
stout,
All furnished well with small arms and cannons round
about;
154

·CITARLES KLYGSLEY And a thousand men in Avès made laits sa fair and frce To choose their valiant caprains and obey them loyally. Thence we sailed against the Spaniard with his hoards of plate and gold, Which he wrung with cruel tortures from Indian folk of old; Likewise the merchant captains, with hearts as hard as stone, Who flog men and keci-haul them, and starre then 10 thic bone. Oh, the palms grew high in Avės, and fruits that shope like gold. And the colibris' and pirrors they were gorgeous behold; And the negro maids to Avès from bondage fast did Bec, To welcome gallant sailors, 3-streeping in from sea. Oh, sweer it was in Avès to hear the landırard breeze, A-swing with good tobacco in a ner berween the trees, With a negro lass to fan you, while you listened to the toar Of the breakers on the reef outside, that cerer touched the shore. But Scripture saith, an ending to all fine things must be; So the King's ships sailed on Ares, and quite pur don were wc. To haul a man under the keel of ship by lowering his oras tbe ride and pulling him ap on the opposite side. Iffunming-bints. 155

·TALES OF LONG AGO
day we fought like bulldogs, but they burst the
booms at night;
nd I fled in a piragua,' sore wounded, from the fight.
ine days I floated starving, and a negro lass beside,
Cill for all I tried to cheer her, the poor young thing
she died;
But as I lay a-gasping, a Bristol sail came by,
And brought me home to England here, to beg until
I die.
And now I'm old and going. I'm sure I can't tell where;
One comfort is, this world's so hard, I can't be worse off
there:
If I might but be a sea-dove, I'd fly across the main,
To the pleasant Isle of Avès, to look at it once again.
CHARLES KINGSLEY
MEN WHO MARCH AWAY (1805)
We be the King's men, hale and hearty,
Marching to meet one Buonaparty;
If he won't sail lest the wind should blow,
We shall have marched for nothing, OI
Right fol-loli
We be the King's men, hale and hearty,
Marching to meet one Buonaparty;
If he be sea-sick, says “No, nol”
We shall have marched for nothing, O!
Right fol-loli
* Now usually written pirogue; an open boat.
156

·ROBERT DRONNING
Wc be the King's men, halc and hearry,
Marching to meet one Buonaparty;
Never mind, mates; src'll be merry, though
We may have marched for nothing, 01
Right fol-loli
THOMAS TIARDY
THROUGH THE METIDJA TO ABD-EL-KADR'
1
As I ride, as I ride,
Wich full heart for my guide,
So its tide rocks my side,
As I ride, as I ride,
That, as I were double-eyed.
He, in trhom our Tribes confide,
Is descried, ways untried,
As I ride, as I ride,
As I ride, as I ride
To our Chief and his Allied,
Who dares chide my hean's pride
As I ride, as 1 ride?
Or are witnesses denied
Through the desert sraste and wide
Do I glide unespied
As I ride, as I ride?
Abd-el-Kadr was an Arab Chief of Algiers who resisted that
French in 1833.
157

·TALES OF LONG AGO HI As I ride, as I ride, When an inner voice has cried, The sands slide, nor abide (As I ride, as I ride) D'er each visioned homicide That came vaunting (has he lied?) To reside-where he died, As I ride, as I ride. IV As I ride, as I ride, Ne'er has spur my swift horse plied, Yet his hide, streaked and pied, As I ride, as I ride, Shows where sweat has sprung and dried, --Zebra-footed, ostrich-thighed- How has vied stride with stride As I ride, as I ride! As I ride, as I ride, Could I loose what Fate has tied, Ere I pried, she should hide (As I ride, as I ride) All that's meant me-satisfied When the Prophet and the Bride Stop veins I'd have subside As I ride, as I ride! ROBERT BROWNING 158

·ALGERNON CARLES SWOBURNE
FROM "TRISTRAM OF LYONESSE"
And while they sat at speech as at a fcast,
Came a liglit vind fast hardening forth of the east
And blackcning till its might had massed the skies;
And the sea thrilled as with heartsundering sighs
Onc after one drawn, with cach breath it drew,
And the green hardened into iron blue,
And the soft light went out of all its face.
Then Tristram girt him for an oorsman's place
And took his our and smote, and toiled with might
In the east wind's full face and the strong sca's spite
Labouring, and all the rowers rowed hard, but he
More mightily than any wearier chirce.
And Iscult watched him roting with sinless cyes
That loved him but in holy girlish wise
For noble joy in his fair manliness
And trust and tender wonder; none the less
She though, if God had given her grace to be
Man, and make war on danger of carth and sea,
Even such a man she would be; for his stroke
Was mightiest as the mightier water broke,
And in sheer measure like strong music drare
Clean through the set weight of the wallowing water
And as a tune before a great king played
T.......
For all the loud breach of the waves ar mu.
So for an hour they fought the storm out still
1.59

·TALES OF LONG AGO
And the shorn foam spun from the blades, and high
* The kcel sprang from the wave-ridge, and the sky
Glared at thein for a breath's space through the rain
Then the bows with a sharp shock plunged again
Down, and the sea clashed on them, and so rose
The bright stem like one panting from swift blows,
And as a swimmer's joyous beaten head
Rcars itself laughing, so in that sharp stead
The light ship liſted her long quivering bows
As might the man his buffeted strong brows
Out of the wave-brcach; for with one stroke yet
Went all men's oars together, strongly set
As to loud music, and with hearts uplíſt
Thcy smote their stom-way through the drench

·INDEX OF AUTHORS 17 100 50 133 144 35 119 125 39 150 32 YTWOCS A Cartion Crow Sal on 33 Ork. Earl Bar's Daughter Love Ifer. Johnny, las lles. London Bridge Mary Arcbrec Preparations Rcoin Goudiellow Rosa flood and Lsttle John Robin Hood and the Widow's Three Sons Toe Tassy Queen The Fire Old English Center an The Fox and the Farmet The Gipsy Laddie The Cokien Vanity The lionour ol a Londos Presilice The 04 Cloak There was a Knight The Spanish Arcado The Three Rasens The Tw Brothers The Wee Wee Man The Winning al Cales. mu. IcketRY (born 1991) The Ekpluat TOCY, Matx EOXOYDSTONE (1853 1853) The l'art of the Bruce Max. R1029 Hans (1793-1845) The Judy of Pheims MIL, "nuw (1757 1873) he C, RO (1312 1823) Bort and Sadete The Pied Pipet of Hamelin Through the Mesidp to Abd El-Kadr 161 104 6 107 19 157 ·TAGZ INDEX OF AUTHORS 118 81 57 116 77 62 54 93 88 65 86 5 URNS, ROBERT (1759-1796) A Farewell To a Field Mouse CALVERLEY, CHARLES STUART (1831-1884) An Auld Wiſe Sat CAMPBELL, THOMAS (1774-1844) Lord Ullin's Daughter . CAMPION, THOMAS (15817-1619) Jack and Joan “ CARROLL, LEWIS" (C. L. DODGSON) (1832-1898) Somc Hallucinations The Lobster Quadrille You are old, Father William CLARE, JOHN (1793-1864) After Reading in a Letter Proposals for Building a Cottage DAVIDSON, JONIN (1857-1909) A Runnable Stag . DE LA MARE, WALTER (born 1873) A Song of Enchantment Nicholas Nye Tartary The Scarecrow DRINKWATER. JOHN (born 1882) Blackbird) Moonlit Apples The Vagabond FITZGERALD, EDWARD (1809-1893) The Ballad of Jenny the Mare HARDY, Thomas (1840-1928) Men Who March Away (1805) HERRICK, ROBERT (1592-1674) The Night Piece . Hogg, JAMES (1770-1835) A Boy's Song Hood, THOMAS (1799-1845) A Plain Direction Faithless Sally Brown 8 همدم 162 ·INDEX OF AUTHORS POL ნე 119 78 151 95 76 • . 72 145 HowIT, WIL (1792 1979) The Wind in 3 Frolic Iaculow, LLAN (1820-1897) The High Tide on the coast of Lincolnshire, 1571 . Kuts, JOHN (1795-1811) Ne Mernlics KINGSLEY, CHARLES (1819-1875) The Last Buccancer Krunc. RUDYARD (1865-1936) luck's Song LONCFELLOW, TIENRY WADSHORTR (1807-1892) The Windmill MIASTTILL, Jony (born 1878) Roadways The West Wind. PRUD, WAYTIROR MACKWORTIL (1807 1889) Sir Nicholas at Marston Aloor QUILLER COUCI, SIR ARTHUR (born 1873) Sage Counsel Scott, SIR WALTER (1771-1832) Alien a Dale SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM (159-1916) A Song From "A Misummer Night's Dream SHILLZY, PERCY BY5511E (1792 1822) The Cloud. SOLTTILY, ROBERT (1774-1843) The Inchcape Rock SPINSTR, EDMUND (1512 1519) From "The Frerie Quecne" STEVNSOS. RonRT Cores (1850 1891) lleather Ale. SWINBURAZ, ALCERNOY CHARLES (1837 gan} From "Tristnm of Lyonesse TENNYSOY, ALFRZU, LORD (1804 1892) The Brook The Goose 163 55 68 54 . 91 152 96 ► 139

·INDEX OF AUTHORS
THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE (1811-1863)
Little Billec
The Pigtail
THORNBURY, G. W. (1828-1876)
The Cavalier's Escape .
The Danes.
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM (1770-1850)
From "The Prelude
+
.

·INDEX OF FIRST LINES 17 116 83 68 159 150 357 $ 65 75 76 99 18 38 A carrion crow At on an oak. A Chieftain in the Ilighlands bound A Fox jumped up on a moonlight night Allen a Dallas no lagot for burning All winter through I low my licad And whic they si at speech as at a feast. A ship have I got in the North Countree. As I rde, as i tide As I was walking all alone At the top of the fouse the apples ate land in rows : Reholds a giant am 1 Desde a runnel build my shed. Roof, saddle, to horse, and away Comic follow, follow mc . Lrom Obcron, in fairy land From the Bonny bells of heather Co fetch to me a pint of wine Hameln Town's in Brunswick , Ile coma on chosen cienings Ilere comes the elephant Her ges the glow-worm lend trice He thought he saw an Elephant I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers I come from haunis of coot and horn If I were lord of Tartary. I knew an old wife lean and poor Jlnow the pools where the graylıng sise I'll sing jou a song, and a merry merty song In london once I lost my way I thought I licard the captain tay 165 96 118 . #4 80 6 80 56 91 72 50 ·INDEX OF FIRST LINES 1401 .. 100 93 . . It's a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries. 71 It was intill a pleasant time It was late in the night when the Squire came home 18 It was upon an April inorn 107 Jack and Joan, they think no ill 77 London Bridge is broken down . 43 Long the proud Spaniards had vaunted to conquer us 141 No stir in the air, no stir in the sea 159 Of a worthy London prentice Oh England is a pleasant place for them that's rich and nighi 164 78 Onc road leads to London: Scc you the dimpled track that runs Some years of late, in eighty.ciglit 136 The auld wife sat at lier ivicd door 57 Their sails, as black as a starless night 104 The Jackdaw sat on the Cardinal's chair The lion is the beast to fight 55 The old wayor climbed the belfry tower 129 There are twelve months in all the year There lived a sage in days of yore There was a Boy: ye knew him well, ye cliffs 67 There was a knichi riding frae the cast There were three ravens sal on 7 trec 7 There were three sailors of Bristol city There were twa brothers at the school 104 Therewith the Giant buckled him to figlit 40 The sun descending in the west. 74 The wind one morning sprang up from sicep 69 Thistle and darnel and dock grew there . 86 This winter's weather it waxcth cold . 46 To horse, to horse, Sir Nicholas I 'the clarion's noic is high 145 Tramplel tramplel went thc roan 148 We bc thc King's men, halc and hcarly Wce, sicckit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastic 81 When captains courageous, whom death could not daunt When Robin Hood was about twenty years old. 119 When the pods went pop on the broom, green broom 88 Whicre the pools are bright and dccp 6G Will you walk a little faster? " said a whiting to a snail 6: 166 10 . 63 156 138 6

·IVOLS OF FIRST LINES
.
let It Itis Majesty, 014 sierrin lord
"You are old, Talher William," the young man wid
Young Den he was a nice young man.
You sported inala with double tongue .
54
39
51

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