JOHN BARLEYCORN.

35

They 've ta'en a weapon long and sharp,

And cut him by the knee ; Then tied him fast upon a cart,

Like a rogue for forgery.

They laid him down upon his back,

And cudgelled him full sore ; They hung him up before the storm,

And turned him o'er and o’er.

They filled up a darksome pit

With water to the brim,
They heaved in John Barleycorn,

There let him sink or swim.

They laid him out upon the floor,

To work him further woe,
And still, as signs of life appeared,

They tossed him to and fro.

They wasted o'er a scorching flame

The marrow of his bones ;
But a miller used him worst of all,

For he crushed him between two stones.

And they have ta’en his very heart's blood,

And drunk it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,

Their joy did more abound.

THE GREAT-GRANDFATHER. - Miss Lamb.

and ten ;

Mother's grandfather lives still,
His
age
is fourscore

years He looks a monument of time,

The agedest of aged men.

Though years lie on him like a load,

A happier man you will not see Than he, whenever he can get

His great-grandchildren on his knee.

When we our parents have displeased,

He stands between us as a screen, By him our good deeds in the sun,

Our bad ones in the shade, are seen.

His love 's a line that 's long drawn out,

Yet lasteth firm unto the end ; His heart is oak, yet unto us

It like the gentlest reed can bend.

A fighting soldier he has been,

Yet by his manners you would guess That he his whole long life had spent

In scenes of country quietness.

His talk is all of things long past,

For modern facts no pleasure yield, Of the famed year of forty-five,

*Of William, and Culloden's field.

THE WIND IN A FROLIC.

37

The deeds of this eventful age,

Which princes from their thrones have hurled, Can no more interest wake in him,

Than stories of another world.

When I his length of days revolve,

How like a strong tree he hath stood,
It brings into my mind almost

Those patriarchs old before the flood.

THE WIND IN A FROLIC. - William Howitt.

The wind one morning sprang up from sleep,
Saying, “Now for a frolic! now for a leap !
Now for a madcap galloping chase !
I'll make a commotion in every place!
So it swept with a bustle right through a great town,
Creaking the signs and scattering down
Shutters, and whisking, with merciless squalls,
Old women's bonnets and gingerbread stalls.
There never was heard a much lustier shout,
As the apples and oranges tumbled about;
And the urchins, that stand with their thievish eyes
For ever on watch, ran off each with a prize.
Then away to the fields it went blustering and hum-

ming,
And the cattle all wondered whatever was coming.
It plucked by their tails the grave, matronly cows,
And tossed the colts' manes all about their brows,
Till, offended at such a familiar salute,
They all turned their backs and stood silently mute.
So on it went, capering and playing its pranks ;
Whistling with reeds on the broad river banks;

Puffing the birds, as they sat on the spray,
Or the traveller grave on the king's highway.
It was not too nice to bustle the bags
Of the beggar, and flutter his dirty rags.
'T was so old, that it feared not to play its joke
With the doctor's wig, and the gentleman's cloak.
Through the forest it roared, and cried gaily, “ Now,
You sturdy old oaks, I 'll make you

bow.' And it made them bow without more ado, Or it cracked their great branches through and through.

Then it rushed like a monster o'er cottage and farm, Striking their inmates with sudden alarm ; And they ran out like bees in a midsummer swarm. There were dames with their kerchiefs tied over their

caps, To see if their poultry were free from mishaps ; The turkeys they gobbled, the geese screamed aloud, And the hens crept to roost in a terrified crowd ; There was rearing of ladders, and logs laying on Where the thatch from the roof threatened soon to be

gone. But the wind had passed on, and had met in a lane With a schoolboy, who panted and struggled in vain, For it tossed him, and twirled him, then passed, and

he stood With his hat in a pool, and his shoe in the mud.

THE NORTHERN SEAS.

William Howitt.

Up! up ! let us a voyage

take

; Why sit we here at ease ? Find us a vessel tight and snug,

Bound for the Northern Seas.

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD

43

Away then went these pretty babes,

Rejoicing at that tide, Rejoicing with a merry mind,

They should on cock-horse ride.
They prate and prattle pleasantly,

As they rode on their way,
To those that should their butchers be,

And work their lives' decay.

So that the pretty speech they had

Made murderous hearts relent;
And they that undertook the deed,

Full sore they did repent.
Yet one of them, more hard of heart,

Did vow to do his charge,
Because the wretch that hired him

Had paid him very large.

The other would not agree thereto,

So here they fell at strife;
With one another they did fight

About the children's life ;
And he that was of mildest mood

Did slay the other there,
Within an unfrequented wood;

While babes did quake for fear.

He took the children by the hand,

When tears stood in their eye ;
And bade them come and go with him,

And look they did not cry:
And two long miles he led them on,

While they for food complain : “Stay here," quoth he, “I'll bring you bread,

When I do come again."