CLI

THE COLUBRIAD

Close by the threshold of a door nail'd fast,
Three kittens sat; each kitten look'd aghast.
1, passing swift and inattentive by,
At the three kittens cast a careless eye;

Not much concern'd to know what they did there,
Not deeming kittens worth a Poet's care.
But presently a loud and furious hiss

Caused me to stop, and to exclaim, 'What's this?'
When lo! upon the threshold met my view,
With head erect, and eyes of fiery hue,

A viper, long as Count de Grasse's queue.
Forth from his head his forked tongue he throws,
Darting it full against a kitten's nose;
Who having never seen, in field or house,
The like, sat still and silent as a mouse :
Only projecting, with attention due,

Her whisker'd face, she asked him, 'Who are you?
On to the hall went I, with pace not slow,
But swift as lightning, for a long Dutch hoe:
With which well arm'd I hasten'd to the spot,
To find the viper, but I found him not.
And, turning up the leaves and shrubs around,
Found only, that he was not to be found.
But still the kitten, sitting as before,
Sat watching close the bottom of the door.
'I hope,' said I, 'the villain I would kill
Has slipp'd between the door and the door-sill;
And if I make despatch, and follow hard,
No doubt but I shall find him in the yard ;'

For long ere now it should have been rehearsed, 'Twas in the garden that I found him first.

Even there I found him-there the full-grown cat,
His head, with velvet paw, did gently pat;
As curious as the kittens each had been
To learn what this phenomenon might mean.
Fill'd with heroic ardour at the sight,
And fearing every moment he would bite,
And rob our household of our only cat
That was of age to combat with a rat,

With outstretch'd hoe I slew him at the door,
And taught him never to come thither more.
W. Cowper

CLII

THE PRIEST AND THE MULBERRYTREE

Did you hear of the curate who mounted his mare, And merrily trotted along to the fair?

Of creature more tractable none ever heard,

In the height of her speed she would stop at a

word;

But again with a word, when the curate said, Hey, She put forth her mettle and gallop'd away.

As near to the gates of the city he rode,
While the sun of September all brilliantly glow'd,
The good priest discover'd, with eyes of desire,
A mulberry-tree in a hedge of wild briar ;
On boughs long and lofty, in many a green shoot,
Hung large, black, and glossy, the beautiful fruit.

The curate was hungry and thirsty to boot;

He shrunk from the thorns, though he long'd for

the fruit;

With a word he arrested his courser's keen speed, And he stood up erect on the back of his steed; On the saddle he stood while the creature stood still, And he gather'd the fruit till he took his good fill.

'Sure never,' he thought, 'was a creature so rare, So docile, so true, as my excellent mare; Lo, here now I stand,' and he gazed all around, 'As safe and as steady as if on the ground; Yet how had it been, if some traveller this way, Had, dreaming no mischief, but chanced to cry, Hey ?'

He stood with his head in the mulberry-tree,
And he spoke out aloud in his fond reverie;

At the sound of the word the good mare made a push,

And down went the priest in the wild-briar bush.
He remember'd too late, on his thorny green bed.
Much that well may be thought cannot wisely be
said.
T. L. Peacock

CLIII

THE PRIDE OF YOUTH

Proud Maisie is in the wood,

Walking so early;

Sweet Robin sits on the bush

Singing so rarely.

X

'Tell me, thou bonny bird, When shall I marry me?' 'When six braw gentlemen Kirkward shall carry ye.

'Who makes the bridal bed,
Birdie, say truly?'
'The grey-headed sexton

That delves the grave duly.

'The glow-worm o'er grave and stone

Shall light thee steady;

The owl from the steeple sing

Welcome, proud lady.'

Sir W. Scott

CLIV

SIR LANCELOT DU LAKE

When Arthur first in court began,
And was approved king,

By force of arms great victories wan
And conquest home did bring,

Then into England straight he came
With fifty good and able
Knights, that resorted unto him,

And were of his round table:

And he had jousts and tournaments,
Whereto were many prest,

Wherein some knights did far excel
And eke surmount the rest.

But one Sir Lancelot du Lake,
Who was approved well,

He for his deeds and feats of arms
All others did excel.

When he had rested him awhile,
In play, and game, and sport,
He said he would go prove himself
In some adventurous sort.

He armed rode in a forest wide,

And met a damsel fair

Who told him of adventures great,
Whereto he gave great ear.

‘Such would I find,' quoth Lancelot : 'For that cause came I hither.' 'Thou seem'st,' quoth she, 'a knight full good And I will bring thee thither,

'Whereas a mighty knight doth dwell,

That now is of great fame: Therefore tell me what wight thou art, And what may be thy name.'

'My name is Lancelot du Lake.'
Quoth she, 'It likes me than ;
Here dwells a knight who never was
Yet match'd with any man:

"Who has in prison three-score knights
And four that he did wound;

Knights of King Arthur's court they be,
And of his table round.'