"Friend tortoise," quoth the jeering hare,
"Your burden's more than I can bear;
To help your speed it were as well
That I should ease you of your shell:
Jog on a little faster pr'ythee:

I'll take a nap and then be with thee."
The tortoise heard his taunting jeer,
But still resolved to persevere;
On to the goal securely crept
While puss unknowing soundly slept.
The bets were won, the hare awoke,
When thus the victor tortoise spoke:
"Puss, though I own thy quicker parts,
Things are not always done by starts.
You may deride my awkward pace,
But slow and steady wins the race.'

XCV

CHARADE.

I graced Don Pedro's revelry,
All dressed in fire and feather;
Where loveliness and chivalry,
Were met to feast together-
He flung the slave who moved the lid,
A purse of maravedis ;-

And this that gallant Spaniard did,

For me and for the ladies.

LLOYD.

He vowed a vow, that noble knight,

Before he went to table,

To make his only sport the fight,
His only couch the stable,
Till he had dragged as he was bid
Five score of Turks to Cadiz ;-
And this that gallant Spaniard did,
For me and for the ladies.

To ride through mountains, where my First
A banquet would be reckoned;
Through deserts where, to quench their thirst,
Men vainly turn my Second.

To leave the gates of fair Madrid,

And dare the gates of Hades ;-
And this that gallant Spaniard did,

For me and for the ladies.

PRAED.

XCVI

ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG.

Good people all, of every sort,

Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.

In Islington there was a man,

Of whom the world might say,
That still a godly race he ran

Whene'er he went to pray.

A kind and gentle heart he had,

To comfort friends and foes: The naked every day he clad, When he put on his clothes.

And in that town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,

Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,
And curs of low degree.

This dog and man at first were friends;
But when a pique began,
The dog, to gain his private ends,
Went mad, and bit the man.

Around from all the neighbouring streets
The wondering neighbours ran,
And swore the dog had lost his wits,
To bite so good a man.

The wound it seemed both sore and sad
To every christian eye:

And while they swore the dog was mad,
They swore the man would die.

But soon a wonder came to light,
That showed the rogues they lied,
The man recovered of the bite,

The dog it was that died.

GOLDSMITH.

XCVII

THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST.

Little Ellie sits alone

Mid the beeches of a meadow,

By a stream side on the grass;
And the trees are showering down
Doubles of their leaves in shadow
On her shining hair and face.

She has thrown her bonnet by;
And her feet she has been dipping
In the shallow water's flow-
Now she holds them nakedly
In her hands, all sleek and dripping,
While she rocketh to and fro.

Little Ellie sits alone,

And the smile she softly useth

Fills the silence like a speech:

While she thinks what shall be done,

And the sweetest pleasure chooseth
For her future, within reach.

Little Ellie in her smile
Chooseth-"I will have a lover,
Riding on a steed of steeds !

He shall love me without guile ;

And to him I will discover

That swan's nest among the reeds.

“And the steed it shall be red-roan, And the lover shall be noble,

With an eye that takes the breath,
And the lute he plays upon
Shall strike ladies into trouble,

As his sword strikes men to death.

"And the steed it shall be shod All in silver, housed in azure,

And the mane shall sweep the wind;
And the hoofs along the sod
Shall flash onward and keep measure,
Till the shepherds look behind.

"He will kiss me on the mouth

Then, and lead me as a lover,

Through the crowds that praise his deeds;
And, when soul-tied by one troth,

Unto him I will discover

That swan's nest among the reeds."

Little Ellie, with her smile
Not yet ended, rose up gaily,-
Tied the bonnet, donned the shoe,
And went homeward round a mile,

Just to see, as she did daily,

What more eggs were with the two.