Collection of Poetry for School Reading

But not performing what he meant,
And gladly would have done,
The frighted steed he frighted more,

And made him faster run.

225

Away went Gilpin, and away

Went postboy at his heels,

230

The postboy's horse right glad to miss
The rumbling of the wheels.

Six gentlemen upon the road

Thus seeing Gilpin fly,

With postboy scampering in the rear,

235

They rais'd a hue and cry:

'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.

240

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.

245

THE SOLITUDE OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK

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.

250

THE SOLITUDE OF ALEXANDER

SELKIRK°

WILLIAM COWPER

I AM monarch of all I survey,

My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea,
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
O Solitude! where are the charms

That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place.

I am out of humanity's reach,

I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech,
I start at the sound of my own.
The beasts that roam over the plain,
My form with indifference see;
They are so unacquainted with man,

Their tameness is shocking to me.

ΙΟ

THE SOLITUDE OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK

Society, Friendship, and Love,
Divinely bestow'd upon man,
Oh, had I the wings of a dove,
How soon would I taste you again!
My sorrows I then might assuage

In the ways of religion and truth,
Might learn from the wisdom of age,
And be cheer'd by the sallies of youth.

Ye winds that have made me your sport,
Convey to this desolate shore

Some cordial, endearing report

Of a land I shall visit no more!

My friends, do they now and then send

A wish or a thought after me?
Oh, tell me I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see.

How fleet is a glance of the mind!

Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,

And the swift-wingèd arrows of light.
When I think of my own native land,

In a moment I seem to be there;
But alas! recollection at hand

Soon hurries me back to despair.

But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest,
The beast is laid down in his lair;