Had told that thereabouts there lurk'd
A wicked imp they call a Poet,
Who prowl'd the country far and near,
Bewitch'd the children of the peasants,
Dry'd up the cows and lam'd the deer,

44

And fuck'd the eggs and kill'd the pheasants.

48

My Lady heard their joint petition

Swore by her coronet and ermine,
She'd iffue out her high commiffion

To rid the manor of fuch vermin.

The heroines undertook the tafk;

Thro' lanes unknown, o'er ftiles they ventur'd,

Rapp'd at the door, nor ftay'd to ask,

But bounce into the parlour enter'd.

The trembling family they daunt,

They flirt, they fing, they laugh, they tattle,
Rummage his mother, pinch his aunt,
And up ftairs in a whirlwind rattle.

Each hole and cupboard they explore,
Each creek and cranny of his chamber,
Run hurry fcurry round the floor,
And o'er the bed and tefter clamber ;
Into the drawers and china pry,
Papers and books, a huge imbroglio!
Under a tea-cup he might lie,
Or creas'd like dog's ears in a folio.

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56

60

64

68

On the first marching of the troops,

The Mufes, hopeless of his pardon,

much difpleafed at the liberty here taken with his name, yet furely without any great reason.

Ꮐ

Convey'd him underneath their hoops
To a small closet in the garden.

So Rumour fays; (who will believe?)
But that they left the door a-jar,
Where safe, and laughing in his fleeve,
He heard the diftant din of war.

;

Short was his joy: he little knew
The pow'r of magic was no fable
Out of the window wink they flew,
But left a spell upon the table.

The words too eager to unriddle,
The Poet felt a strange disorder;
Transparent birdlime form'd the middle,
And chains invifible the border.

So cunning wąs the apparatus,

The pow'rful pothooks did so move him,
That will he nill to the great houfe
He went as if the devil drove him.

Yet on his way (no sign of Grace,
For folks in fear are apt to pray)
To Phœbus he preferr'd his cafe,

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76

80

84

88

And begg'd his aid that dreadful day.

92

The godhead would have back'd his quarrel:

But with a blush, on recollection,

Own'd that his quiver and his laurel

"Gainst four such eyes were no protection.

The court was fat, the culprit there;

Forth from their gloomy manfions creeping,

The Lady Janes and Joans repair,

And from the gallery ftand peeping:

Such as in filence of the night

Come (fweep) along fome winding entry,

(Styack + has often feen the fight)
Or at the chapel-door stand sentry ;
In peaked hoods and mantles tarnish'd,
Sour visages enough to scare ye,

High dames of honour once that garnish'd
The drawing-room of fierce Queen Mary!
The peerefs comes: the audience ftare,
And doff their hats with due fubmiffion;
She court'fies, as she takes her chair,
To all the people of condition.

The Bard with many an artful fib
Had in imagination fenc'd him,
Difprov'd the arguments of Squib, t

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108

112

And all that Groom § could urge against him. 116

But foon his rhetoric forfook him

When he the folemn hall had feen;
A fudden fit of ague shook him;
He stood as mute as poor Macleane. ||

Yet fomething he was heard to mutter, "How in the park, beneath an old tree,

(Without design to hurt the butter, "Or any malice to the poultry,)

"He once or twice had penn'd a fonnet, "Yet-hop'd that he might fave his bacon; "Numbers would give their oaths upon it, "He ne'er was for a conj’rer taken.” The ghoftly prudes, with hagged * face, Already had condemn'd the finner:

+ The Housekeeper.

§ Groom of the chamber.

+ The fteward.

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124

128

A famous highwayman, hanged the week before.
Hagged, i. e. the face of a witch or hag. The e-

My Lady rofe, and with a grace————
She frail'd, and bid him come to dinner. †
"Jefu-Maria! Madam Bridget,
"Why, what can the Viscountefs mean!"
Cry'd the square hoods, in woful fidget;

The times are alter'd quite and clean! "Decorum's turn'd to mere civility! "Her air and all her manners fhew it: " Commend me to her affability!

Speak to a Commoner and Poet!"

[Here 500 ftanzas are left.]

And fo God fave our noble king,
And guard us from long-winded lubbers,
That to eternity would fing,

And keep my lady from her rubbers.

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136

140

144

pithet hugard has been fometimes mistaken as conveying the fame idea, but it means a very different thing, viz wild and farouche, and is taken from an unreclaimed hawk called a hagard.

+ Here the ftory finishes; the exclamation of the ghofts, which follows, is characteristic of the Spanish inanners of the age when they are fuppofed to have lived; and the 500 ftanzas faid to be loft, may be imagined to contain the remainder of their long-winded expoftulation.

ELEGY

WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD.

THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

The lowing herd wind flowly o'er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the fight, And all the air a folemn ftillness holds,

Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the diftant folds;
Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of fuch as, wand'ring near her fecret bow'r,
Moleft her ancient folitary reign.

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I 2

Beneath thofe rugged elms, that yew-tree's fhade, Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,

The rude forefathers of the hamlet fleep.

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The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed, The cock's fhrill ciarion, or the echoing horn, No more fhall roufe them from their lowly bed. 20 For them no more the blazing hearth fhall burn, Or bufy housewife ply her ev'ning care;

No children run to lifp their fire's return,

Or climb his knees the envy'd kiss to share.

Oft' did the harveft to their fickle yield,
Their furrow oft' the ftubborn glebe has broke ;

-fquilla di lontano

Che paia'l giorno pianger, che fi muore.

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Dante, Purgat. 1. &