JOHN GILPIN.

40.

Away went Gilpin, out of breath,
And sore against his will,
Till at his friend's the calender's

His horse at last stood still.

41.

The calender, amazed to see

His neighbour in such trim,

Laid down his pipe, flew to the gate,

And thus accosted him:

42.

What news? what news? your tidings tell,
Tell me you must and shall-
Say why bareheaded you are come,

Or why you come at all?

43.

Now Gilpin had a pleasant wit,
And loved a timely joke;
And thus unto the calender

In merry guise he spoke :

49

46.

When straight he came with hat and wig,
A wig that flowed behind,

A hat not much the worse for wear,
Each comely in its kind.

47.

He held them up, and in his turn
Thus shewed his ready wit,
My head is twice as big as yours,
They therefore needs must fit.

48.

But let me scrape the dirt away
That hangs upon your face;
And stop and eat, for well you may
Be in a hungry case.

49.

Said John, it is my wedding-day,
And all the world would stare,
If wife should dine at Edmonton,
And I should dine at Ware.

50.

So turning to his horse, he said

I am in haste to dine:

'Twas for your pleasure you came here,

You shall go back for mine.

51.

Ah, luckless speech, and bootless boast! For which he paid full dear,

For while he spake, a braying ass,

Did sing most loud and clear;

JOHN GILPIN.

52.

Whereat his horse did snort, as he
Had heard a lion roar ;

And galloped off with all his might,
As he had done before.

53.

Away went Gilpin, and away
Went Gilpin's hat and wig:
He lost them sooner than at first,
For why they were too big.

54.

Now Mistress Gilpin, when she saw
Her husband posting down
Into the country far away,

She pulled out half-a-crown;

55.

And thus unto the youth she said
That drove them to the Bell,

This shall be yours when you bring back
My husband safe and well.

56.

The youth did ride, and soon did meet

John coming back amain, Whom in a trice he tried to stop, By catching at his rein.

57.

But not performing what he meant,
And gladly would have done;
The frighted steed he frighted more,
And made him faster run.

51

58.

Away went Gilpin, and away
Went postboy at his heels;
The postboy's horse right glad to miss
The lumbering of the wheels.

59.

Six gentlemen upon the road
Thus seeing Gilpin fly,

With postboy scampering in the rear,
They raised the hue and cry.

60.

Stop thief! stop thief! a highwayman! Not one of them was mute :

And all and each that passed that way Did join in the pursuit.

61.

And now the turnpike gates again
Flew open in short space;
The tollmen, thinking as before,

That Gilpin rode a race.

62.

And so he did, and won it too,

For he got first to town;

Nor stopped till where he first got up,

He did again get down.

63.

Now let us sing, long live the king,

And Gilpin, long live he;

And when he next doth ride abroad,
May I be there to see!

ELEGY:

WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD.

1.

THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

2.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,

Save where the beetle wheels his drony flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.

3.

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower,

The moping owl does to the moon complain, Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, Molest her ancient solitary reign.

4.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

5.

The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,

The swallow twittering from her straw-built shed, The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,

No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.