"Stop, stop, John Gilpin!-Here's the house!" They all at once did cry;

"The dinner waits, and we are tired:" Said Gilpin-" So am I!"

But yet his horse was not a whit
Inclined to tarry there;

For why?-his owner had a house
Full ten miles off, at Ware.

So like an arrow swift he flew,
Shot by an archer strong;
So did he fly-which brings me to
The middle of my song.

Away went Gilpin, out of breath,
And sore against his will,
Till, at his friend the calender's
His horse at last stood still,

The calender, amazed to see

His neighbour in such trim,

Laid down his pipe, flew to the gate,

And thus accosted him:

"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?"

Now Gilpin had a pleasant wit,
And loved a timely joke;
And thus unto the calender
In merry guise, he spoke :

"I came because your horse would come;
And, if I well forbode,

My hat and wig will soon be here,-
They are upon the road."

The calender, right glad to find
His friend in merry pin,
Return'd him not a single word,
But to the house went in;

Whence straight he came with hat and wig;
A wig that flow'd behind,

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

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

"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 go back for mine."

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 he
Had heard a lion roar,

And gallop'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 pull'd 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!

W. COWPER.

THE BALLAD OF CHEVY CHASE.

GOD prosper long our noble king,
Our lives and safeties all;

A woful hunting once there did
In Chevy Chase befall.

To drive the deer with hound and horn

Earl Percy took his way;

The child may rue that is unborn

The hunting of that day.

The stout Earl of Northumberland
A vow to God did make,
His pleasure in the Scottish woods
Three summer days to take;

The chiefest harts in Chevy Chase
To kill and bear away:

These tidings to Earl Douglas came
In Scotland, where he lay;

Who sent Earl Percy present word,
He would prevent his sport;
The English earl, not fearing that,
Did to the woods resort,

With fifteen hundred bowmen bold,
All chosen men of might,

Who knew full well in time of need,
To aim their shafts aright.

The gallant greyhounds swiftly ran,
To chase the fallow deer;
On Monday they began to hunt,
When daylight did appear; -

And, long before high noon they had
A hundred fat bucks slain;
Then, having dined, the drovers went
To rouse the deer again.

Lord Percy to the quarry went,
To view the slaughter'd deer;
Quoth he, "Earl Douglas promised
This day to meet me here;

"But if I thought he would not come,
No longer would I stay."

With that a brave young gentleman
Thus to the earl did say :

"Lo, yonder doth Earl Douglas come,
His men in armour bright;

Full twenty hundred Scottish spears
All marching in our sight.

"All men of pleasant Tividale,

Fast by the river Tweed."

"Then cease your sport," Earl Percy said, "And take your bows with speed: