English

A LEGEND OF THE HAYMARKET .

D OL-DRUM the Manager sits in his chair,
With a gloomy brow and dissatisfied air,
And he says, as he slaps his hand on his knee,
" I'll have nothing to do with Fiddle-de-dee!"

— " But Fiddle-de-dee sings clear and loud,
And his trills and his quavers astonish the crowd;
Such a singer as he. You'll nowhere see;
They'll all be screaming for Fiddle-de-dee!"

A LEGEND OF SALISBURY PLAIN .

O H , Salisbury Plain is bleak and bare, —
At least so I've heard many people declare,
For I fairly confess I never was there; —
Not a shrub nor a tree, Nor a bush can you see;
No hedges, no ditches, no gates, no stiles,
Much less a house, or a cottage for miles; —
It's a very sad thing to be caught in the rain
When night's coming on upon Salisbury Plain.

AN OLD SONG TO A NEW TUNE .

When we were all little and good, —
A long time ago, I'm afraid, Miss —
We were told of the Babes in the Wood
By their false, cruel Uncle betray'd, Miss;
Their Pa was a Squire, or a Knight;
In Norfolk, I think, his estate lay —
That is, if I recollect right,
For I've not read the history lately.
Rum ti , etc.

Their Pa and their Ma being seized

THE SHROPSHIRE BLUEBEARD

A LEGEND OF " THE PROUD SALOPIANS "

O H ! why doth thine eye gleam so bright,
Bloudie Jacke?
Oh! why doth thine eye gleam so bright? —
The Mother's at home, The Maid may not roam,
She never will meet thee to-night!
By the light
Of the moon — it's impossible — quite!

Yet thine eye is still brilliant and bright,
Bloudie Jacke!
It gleams with a fiendish delight —

A LEGEND OF THANEI .

The fire-flash shines from Reculver cliff,
And the answering light burns blue in the skiff,
And there they stand, That smuggling band,
Some in the water and some on the sand,
Ready those contraband goods to land:
The night is dark, they are silent and still,
— At the head of the party is Smuggler Bill!

" Now lower away! come, lower away!
We must be far ere the dawn of the day.

A LEGEND OF JARVIS'S JETTY .

MR SIMPKINSON ( loquitur ).

'T WAS in Margate last July, I walk'd upon the pier,
I saw a little vulgar Boy — I said, " What make you here?
The gloom upon your youthful cheek speaks anything but joy;"
Again I said, " What make you here, you little vulgar Boy?"

He frown'd, that little vulgar Boy, — he deem'd I meant to scoff —
And when the little heart is big, a little " sets it off;"

A LEGEND OF A SHIRT

I SING of a Shirt that never was new!
In the course of the year Eighteen hundred and two,
Aunt Fanny began, Upon Grandmamma's plan,
To make one for me, then her " dear little man." —
— At the epoch I speak about, I was between
A man and a boy, A hobble-de-hoy,
A fat, little, punchy concern of sixteen, —
Just beginning to flirt, And ogle, — so pert,
I'd been whipt every day had I had my desert,

I REMEMBER , I remember,
When I was a little Boy,
One fine morning in September
Uncle brought me home a toy

I remember how he patted
Both my cheeks in kindliest mood;
" Then," said he, " you little Fat-head,
There's a top because you're good"

Grandmamma — a shrewd observer —
I remember gazed upon
My new top, and said with fervour,
" Oh! how kind of Uncle John!"

A LEGEND OF THE " DARK ENTRY."

THE KING'S SCHOLAR'S STORY

Hark ! listen, Mrs. Ingoldsby, — the clock is striking nine!
Give Master Tom another cake, and half a glass of wine,
And ring the bell for Jenny Smith, and bid her bring his coat,
And a warm bandana handkerchief to tie about his throat.

" And bid them go the nearest way, for Mr. Birch has said
That nine o'clock's the hour he'll have his boarders all in bed;
And well we know when little boys their coming home delay,

FRAGMENT.

A FEELING sad came o'er me as I trod the sacred ground
Where Tudors and Plantagenets were lying all around:
I stepp'd with noiseless foot, as though the sound of mortal tread
Might burst the bands of the dreamless sleep that wraps the mighty dead!

The slanting ray of the evening sun shone through those cloisters pale,
With fitful light on regal vest, and warrior's sculptured mail,
As from the stain'd and storied pane it danced with quivering gleam,