But he like a cruel knight spurr'd on,

His heart did not relent-a ;

For, till he came there, he show'd no fear ;
Till then, why should he repent-a ?

The king (Heaven bless him !) had singular hopes Of him and all his troop-a;

The Borderers they, as they met him on the way,
For joy did holloa and whoop-a.

None liked him so well as his own colonel,
Who took him for John de Wert-a ;

But when there were shows of gunning and blows.
My gallant was nothing so pert-a.

For when the Scots' army came within sight,
And all men prepared to fight-a,

He ran to his tent; they ask'd what he meant ;
He swore that his stomach ached quite-a.

The colonel sent for him back again,

To quarter him in the van-a,

But Sir John did swear, he came not there
To be kill'd the very first man-a.

To cure his fear he was sent to the rear,
Some ten miles back and more-a;
Where he did play at trip and away,
And ne'er saw the enemy more-a.

But now there is peace, he's return'd to increase
His money which lately he spent-a;

But his lost honour must still lie in the dust;
At Berwick away it went-a.

Old Ballad

CXLIV

THE NUN'S LAMENT FOR PHILIP SPARROW

When I remember'd again

How my Philip was slain,
I wept and I wailed,

The tears down hailed;

But nothing it avail'd

To call Philip again

Whom Gib our cat hath slain.

Heu, heu, me,

That I am woe for thee!

Levavi oculos meos in montis,
Would that I had Xenophontis
Or Socrates the Wise,

To show me their device
Moderately to take

This sorrow that I make

For Philip Sparrow's sake!
It had a velvet cap,
And would sit on my lap,
And seek after small worms,

And sometimes white bread crumbs;

And many times and oft

Within my breast soft

It would lie and rest.

Sometimes he would gasp

When he saw a wasp;

A fly or a gnat,

He would fly at that;

And prettily he would pant
When he saw an ant;

U

Lord, how he would pry
After the butterfly!

Lord, how he would hop
After the grasshop!

And when I said, Phip, Phip,
Then he would leap and skip,
And take me by the lip.

De profundis clamavi
When I saw my sparrow die.
Vengeance I ask and cry,

By way of exclamation,
On all the whole nation
Of cats wild and tame;
That cat especially
That slew so cruelly

My little pretty sparrow
That I brought up at Carow.

O cat of churlish kind,
The fiend was in thy mind.

I would thou hadst been blind!

The leopards savage,

The lions in their rage,

May they catch thee in their paws,

And gnaw thee in their jaws;

The dragons with their tongues

May they poison thy liver and lungs.

Of India the greedy gripes

May they tear out all thy tripes;

Of Arcady the bears

May they pluck away thine ears;

The wild wolf Lycaon

Bite asunder thy back-bone;

Of Ætna the burning hill,

That night and day burneth still,

Set thy tail in a blaze,

That all the world may gaze
And wonder upon thee,

From Ocean, the great sea,

Unto the Isles of Orchadye;
From Tilbury Ferry

To the plain of Salisbury.

F. Skelton

CXLV

TO A BUTTERFLY

I've watch'd you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly! indeed

I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! not frozen seas
More motionless! and then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Has found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my sister's flowers;

Here rest your wings when they are weary;

Here lodge as in a sanctuary!

Come often to us, fear no wrong;

Sit near us on the bough!

We'll talk of sunshine and of song,

And summer days when we were young;

Sweet childish days that were as long

As twenty days are now.

W. Wordsworth

CXLVI

THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY

Old stories tell how Hercules

A dragon slew at Lerna,

With seven heads and fourteen eyes,
To see and well discern-a:

But he had a club, this dragon to drub,
Or he ne'er had done it, I warrant ye :
But More of More-hall, with nothing at all,
He slew the dragon of Wantley.

This dragon had two furious wings,
Each one upon each shoulder;

With a sting in his tail as long as a flail,
Which made him bolder and bolder.
He had long claws, and in his jaws
Four and forty teeth of iron;
With a hide as tough as any buff,
Which did him round environ.

Have you not heard how the Trojan horse
Held seventy men in his belly?
This dragon was not quite so big,
But very near, I'll tell ye;
Devour'd he poor children three,

That could not with him grapple ;
And at one sup he ate them up,

As one would eat an apple.

All sorts of cattle this dragon would eat,
Some say he ate up trees,