So "Fair and softly," John he cried; So stooping down, as needs he must He grasp'd the mane with both his hands, His horse, who never in that sort Away went Gilpin, neck or nought; He little dreamt, when he set out, The wind did blow, the cloak did fly, Then might all people well discern The bottles he had slung; A bottle swinging at each side, As hath been said or sung. The dogs did bark, the children scream'd, And every soul cried out, "Well done!" Away went Gilpin-who but he? And still, as fast as he drew near, And now, as he went bowing down Down ran the wine into the road, Most piteous to be seen, Which made his horse's flanks to smoke As they had basted been. But still he seem'd to carry weight, With leathern girdle braced; For all might see the bottle necks COWPER. Thus all through merry Islington Of Edmonton so gay; And there he threw the wash about Or a wild goose at play. At Edmonton his loving wife Her tender husband, wondering much [GEORGE III "Stop, stop, John Gilpin!-Here's the house," They all aloud did cry; The dinner waits, and we are tired:' Said Gilpin "So am I." But yet his horse was not a whit For why?-His owner had a house So like an arrow swift he flew, Away went Gilpin out of breath, The Calender, amazed to see His neighbor in such trim, Laid down his pipe, flew to the gate, "What news? what news? your tidings tell, Tell me you must and shall; Say why bare-headed you are come, Or why you come at all?" Now Gilpin had a pleasant wit, "I came because your horse would come And, if I well forbode, My hat and wig will soon be here- They are upon the road." The Calender, right glad to find Whence straight he came with hat and wig A hat not much the worse for wear, He held them up, and in his turn But let me scrape the dirt away Said John-"It is my wedding-day, So, turning to his horse, he said, 'Twas for your pleasure you came here, Ah, luckless speech, and bootless boast! Whereat his horse did snort, as he And gallop'd off with all his might, Away went Gilpin, and away Now Mistress Gilpin, when she saw Into the country far away, She pull'd out half a crown; And thus unto the youth she said "This shall be yours when you bring back My husband safe and well." The youth did ride, and soon did meet John coming back amain, Whom in a trice he tried to stop, But not performing what he meant, COWPER. Away went Gilpin, and away The post-boy's horse right glad to miss Six gentlemen upon the road With post-boy scampering in the rear, "Stop thief! stop thief!-a highwayman!" Not one of them was mute; And now the turnpike-gates again And so he did; and won it too; Nor stopp'd till where he had got up Now let us sing, Long live the king, And when he next doth ride abroad, [GEORGE III. JOHN BUNYAN. O thou, whom, borne on fancy's eager wing Tirocinium. SONNET TO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.1 Thy country, Wilberforce, with just disdain, Thou hast achieved a part; hast gain'd the ear Hope smiles, joy springs, and though cold caution pause ON THE RECEIPT OF HIS MOTHER'S PICTURE O that those lips had language! Life has pass'd O welcome guest, though unexpected here! I will obey, not willingly alone, But gladly, as the precept were her own: 1 "The eloquence of Wilberforce was the voice of humanity. It was at the table of Bennet Langton, that he made the public avowal of his sentiments upon slavery. There was something sublime in the spectacle of so young a man preaching a new crusade. He declared himself the advocate of a forsaken race; and with almost unaided arm prepared to open the gates of mercy to mankind Mackintosh said that he had conferred upon the world a benefit never exceeded by human benevo lence. He was neither daunted by opposition nor depressed by defeat. However exhausted by the struggle, if he touched, in imagination at least, the ground where the ashes of the persecuted African reposed, his strength returned to him. The cry of blood ascended from the earth. Let his toil be appreciated, and his difficulties acknowledged. What others have dared in the war of arms, he dared in the war of opinion. He attacked the bulwarks with which avarice had fortified the cruelties of slavery; and never yielded to the invitations of ease, until he had driven a gap into those barricades of iniquity. His mind seemed to dilate with the majesty of his subject. His speech in 1789 gained the applause of all who heard it; and one passage, that in which he summoned death, as his last witness, whose tremendous testimony was neither to be purchased nor refuted, reached the sublime. Burke admired it; Pitt and Fox eulogized it; and Bishop Porteus mentioned it to the poet Mason, in terms of still warmer praise. In him was beheld, for the first, if not for the last time, the noble spectacle of a man without patronage or office, to whom parliament listened with respect, and he country with reverence; having no friends but the good; no side but virtue."- Willmott. |