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 pullid 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 :

Stop thief ! stop thief !-a highwayman !

Not one of them was mute;
And all and each that pass'd 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!

ON THE DEATH OF

MRS. THROCKMORTON'S BULLFINCH.

Ye nymphs ! if e'er your eyes were red
With tears o'er hapless favourites shed,

O share Maria's grief!
Her favourite, even in his cage,
(What will not hunger's cruel rage?)

Assassin'd by a thief.

Where Rhenus strays his vines among,
The egg was laid from which he sprung;

And though by nature mute,
Or only with a whistle bless'd,
Well taught, he all the sounds express'd

Of flagelet or flute.

The honours of his ebon poll
Were brighter than the sleekest mole;

His bosom of the hue
With which Aurora decks the skies,
When piping winds shall soon arise

To sweep away the dew.

Above, below, in all the house,
Dire foe alike of bird and mouse,

No cat had leave to dwell;
And Bully's cage supported stood
On props of smoothest shaven wood,

Large built and latticed well.

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Well latticed—but the grate, alas !
Not rough with wire of steel or brass,

For Bully's plumage sake;
But smooth with wands from Ouse's side,
With which, when neatly peeld and dried,

The swains their baskets make.

Night veil'd the pole: all seem'd secure;
When, led by instinct sharp and sure,

Subsistence to provide,
A beast forth sallied on the scout,
Long-back'd, long-tail'd, with whisker'd snout,

And badger-colour'd hide.

He, entering at the study-door,
Its ample area 'gan explore;

And something in the wind
Conjectured, snifing round and round,
Better than all the books he found,

Food chiefly for the mind.

Just then, by adverse fate impress’d,
A dream disturb'd poor Bully's rest:

In sleep he seem'd to view
A rat fast clinging to the cage,
And screaming at the sad presage,

Awoke, and found it true.

For, aided both by ear and scent,
Right to his mark the monster went.

Ah, Muse! forbear to speak
Minute the horrors that ensued ;
His teeth were strong, the cage was wood-

He left poor Bully's beak.

O had he made that too his prey! That beak, whence issued many a lay

Of such mellifluous tone, Might have repaid him well, I wote, For silencing so sweet a throat,

Fast stuck within his own.

Maria weeps—the Muses mourn-
So, when by Bacchanalians torn,

On Thracian Hebrus' side
The tree-enchanter Orpheus fell,
His head alone remain'd to tell

The cruel death he died.