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.

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.

So turning to his horse, he said,

I am in haste to dine ; 'Twas for your pleasure you came here,

You shall back for mine.

go

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 ;

Whereat his horse did snort, as be

Had heard a lion roar,
And gallopp'd off with all his might,

As he had done before.

Away went Gilpin, and away

Went Gilpin's hat and wig:
He lost them sooner than at first,

For why ?-they were too big.

Now mistress Gilpin, when she saw

Her husband posting down Into the country far away,

She pulld out half a crown;

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.

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 ;

But not performing what he meant,

And gladly would have done,
The frighted steed he frighted more,

And made him faster run.

Away went Gilpin, and away

Went postboy at his heels,
The postboy's horse right glad to miss

The lumbering of the wheels.

Six gentlemen upon the road,

Thus seeing Gilpin fly,
With postboy scampering in the rear,

They raised the hue and cry:-

258

THE HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN.

Stop thief! stop thief Ia highwayman!

Not one of them was mute; And all and each that passed that way

Did join in the pursuit.

And now the turnpike gates again
Flew
open

in short space ; The toll-men thinking as before,

That Gilpin rode a race.

And so he did, and won it too,

For he got first to town;
Nor stopp'd till where he had got up

He did again get down.

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!

& NIGHTINGALE, that all day long
ilad cheer'd the village with his song,
Nor yet at eve his note suspended,
Nor yet when eventide was ended,
Began to feel, as well he mighty
The keen demands of appetite;
When, looking eagerly around,
He spied far off, upon the ground,
A something shining in the dark,
And knew the glowworm by his spark;
So stooping down from hawthorn top,
He thought to put him in his crop.
The worm, aware of his intent,
Harangued him thus, right eloquent-

Did you admire my lamp, quoth he,
As much as I your minstrelsy,
You would abhor to do me wrong
As much as I to spoil your song;
For 'twas the selfsame Power Divine
Taught you to sing, and me to shine;
That you with music, I with light,
Might beautify and cheer the night.
The songster heard his short oration,
And warbling out his approbation,

260

NIGHTINGALE AND GLOWWORM.

Released him, as my story tells,
And found a supper somewhere else.

Hence jarring sectaries may learn
Their real interest to discern;
That brother should not war with brother,
And
worry

and devour each other;
But sing and shine by sweet consent,
Till life's poor transient night is spent,
Respecting in each other's case
The gifts of nature and of grace.

Those Christians best deserve the name
Who studiously make peace their aim ;
Peace both the duty and the prize
Of him that creeps and him that flies.