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 post-boy at his heels, The post-boy's horse right glad to miss the lumbering of the wheels. Six gentlemen upon the road, thus seeing Gilpin fly, With post-boy scampering in the rear, they raised the 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. And now the turnpike gates again flew open in short space; The tollmen thinking, as before, that Gilpin rode a race. And so he did, and won it, too, for he got first to town; Nor stopped 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! William Cowper. Paddy O'Rafther 571 PADDY O'RAFTHER PADDY, in want of a dinner one day, Stole from a priest a fat pullet, they say, "Your riv'rince," says Paddy, "I stole this fat hen." Paddy O'Rafther!" "Sure, you wouldn't be angry," says Pat, "if you knew That the best of intintions I had in my view— For I stole it to make it a present to you, And you can absolve me afther." "Do you think," says the priest, "I'd partake of your theft? Of your seven small senses you must be bereft You're the biggest blackguard that I know, right and left, Paddy O'Rafther." "Then what shall I do with the pullet," says Pat, What your riv'rince would have me be afther." Says Paddy, "I ask'd him to take it-'tis thrue Says Paddy, nigh choken with laughter. "By my throth," says the priest, "but the case is absthruse; If he won't take his hen, why the man is a goose: 'Tis not the first time my advice was no use, Paddy O'Rafther." "But, for sake of your sowl, I would sthrongly advise So Paddy went off to the brisk Widow Hoy, Then Paddy went back to the priest the next day, To a poor lonely widow, in want and dismay, "Well, now," says the priest, "I'll absolve you, my lad, For repentantly making the best of the bad, In feeding the hungry and cheering the sad, Paddy O'Rafther!" Samuel Lover. HERE SHE GOES, AND THERE SHE GOES Two Yankee wags, one summer day, Will looked it over:-" Very right But hold! what wonder meets my sight? Tom, the surprise is quite a shock!" "What wonder? where?" "The clock, the clock!" Tom and the landlord in amaze Stared at the clock with stupid gaze, Here She Goes, and There She Goes "You mean the clock that's ticking there? I see no wonder, I declare! Though maybe, if the truth were told, Yet time it keeps to half a minute; "Tom, don't you recollect," said Will, "The clock at Jersey, near the mill, The very image of this present, With which I won the wager pleasant?" Tom scratched his head and tried to think. "You remember It happened, Tom, in last December: In sport I bet a Jersey Blue That it was more than he could do To make his finger go and come "Well, if I would, the deuce is in it!" "Don't make us wait, Begin, the clock is striking eight." He seats himself, and left and right His finger wags with all its might, With-" Here she goes, and there she goes!" 573 "Hold!" said the Yankee, "Plank the ready!" The landlord wagged his finger steady, He heard them running down the stair, His mother happened in to see Her daughter: "Where is Mrs. B―?" "When will she come, do you suppose? Son!" "Here she goes, and there she goes!" "Here!-where?"-the lady in surprise His finger followed with her eyes: "Son! why that steady gaze and sad? Those words, that motion,-are you mad? But here's your wife, perhaps she knows, And-" "Here she goes, and there she goes!" His wife surveyed him with alarm, He shook her off, and to and fro His finger persevered to go; While curled his very nose with ire That she against him should conspire; And with more furious tone arose The "Here she goes, and there she goes!" "Lawks!" screamed the wife, "I'm in a whirl! Run down and bring the little girl; |