Then some they rade, and some they ran,

Out-o'er the grass and bent;

But ere the foremost could win up,

Both lady and babes were brent.

85

HUNTING SONG

THE hunt is up, the hunt is up,
And it is well nigh day;

And Harry our king is gone hunting

The grass is green, and so are the treen

The sun is glad to see us clad

All in our lusty green,

And smiles in the sky as he riseth high

To see and to be seen.

20

87 win, come

92 wroken, revenged

11 treen, trees

18 green, dress

Awake all men, I say again,

Be merry as you may;

For Harry our king is gone huntíng,

To bring his deer to bay.

THE RETIRED CAT

A POET'S cat, sedate and grave
As poet well could wish to have,
Was much addicted to inquire
For nooks to which she might retire,
And where, secure as mouse in chink,
She might repose, or sit and think.
Sometimes ascending, debonair,
An apple-tree, or lofty pear,

Lodged with convenience in the fork,
She watch'd the gardener at his work :
Sometimes her ease and solace sought
In an old empty watering-pot;

There, wanting nothing save a fan
To seem some nymph in her sedan,
Apparell'd in exactest sort,

And ready to be borne to court.

But love of change it seems has place
Not only in our wiser race;

Cats also feel, as well as we,

That passion's force, and so did she.
Her climbing, she began to find,
Exposed her too much to the wind,
And the old utensil of tin

Was cold and comfortless within:

1 sedate, sober

3 addicted, fond of

7 debonair, cheerful II solace, comfort 15 dressed in the height of fashion

5

1Ο

15

20

14 nymph, young lady 23 utensil, the watering-pot

She therefore wish'd, instead of those,

Some place of more serene repose,
Where neither cold might come, nor air
Too rudely wanton with her hair,

And sought it in the likeliest mode,

Within her master's snug abode.

A drawer, it chanced, at bottom lined
With linen of the softest kind,
With such as merchants introduce
From India, for the ladies' use-
A drawer impending o'er the rest,
Half open, in the topmost chest,
Of depth enough, and none to spare,
Invited her to slumber there.
Puss, with delight beyond expression,
Survey'd the scene and took possession.
Recumbent at her ease, ere long,
And lull'd by her own hum-drum song,
She left the cares of life behind,

And slept as she would sleep her last;
When in came, housewifely inclined,
The chambermaid, and shut it fast;
By no malignity impell'd,

25

30

35

40

45

But all unconscious whom it held.

Awaken'd by the shock, cried Puss,

6 Was ever cat attended thus!

50

'The open drawer was left, I see,

'Merely to prove a nest for me;

'For soon as I was well composed,

'Then came the maid, and it was closed.

'How smooth these kerchiefs, and how sweet!

55

35 impending, hanging out 45 housewifely, to make things neat 50 attended, waited on

'Till Sol, declining in the west,
'Shall call to supper, when, no doubt,
'Susan will come and let me out.'

The evening came, the sun descended,
And Puss remain'd still unattended.
The night roll'd tardily away,

60

(With her, indeed, 'twas never day,)
The sprightly morn her course renew'd,
The evening gray again ensued;

65

And Puss came into mind no more

Than if entomb'd the day before.

With hunger pinch'd, and pinch'd for room,
She now presaged approaching doom,
Nor slept a single wink or purr'd,

70

Conscious of jeopardy incurr'd.

That night, by chance, the poet watching,

Heard an inexplicable scratching;

His noble heart went pit-a-pat,

75

And to himself he said, 'What's that ?'
He drew the curtain at his side,

And forth he peep'd, but nothing spied;
Yet, by his ear directed, guess'd
Something imprison'd in the chest,
And, doubtful what, with prudent care
Resolved it should continue there.
At length a voice which well he knew,
A long and melancholy mew,
Saluting his poetic ears,

Consoled him and dispell'd his fears.
He left his bed, he trod the floor,
And 'gan in haste the drawers explore,
The lowest first, and without stop

58 Sol, the sun
68 entomb'd, buried

72 jeopardy, danger

80

85

63 tardily, slowly 66 ensued, followed 70 presaged, prophesied; doom, death incurr'd, run into 73 poet, Cowper 86 dispelled, drove

74 inexplicable, what he could not make out 88 'gan, began

away

The rest in order, to the top;

90

For 'tis a truth well known to most,

A theme for all the world's attention :
But modest, sober, cured of all

Her notions hyperbolical,

And wishing for a place of rest
Anything rather than a chest.
Then stepp'd the poet into bed
With this reflection in his head :-

Moral

Beware of too sublime a sense

Of your own worth and consequence !

The man who dreams himself so great,
And his importance of such weight,
That all around, in all that's done,
Must move and act for him alone,
Will learn in school of tribulation,
The folly of his expectation.

100

105

IIO

ON the green banks of Shannon when Sheelah was nigh,

No blithe Irish lad was so happy as I;

No harp like my own could so cheerily play,
And wherever I went was my poor dog Tray.

95 replete, filled

- 98 theme, matter 105 sublime, grand

96 erst, before 97 apprehension thought 100 hyperbolical, ridiculously grand III tribulation, suffering