To bite so good a Man.
The wound it seem’d 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 show’d the rogues they lied:
The Man recover’d of the bite,
The Dog it was that died.
O. Goldsmith.
THE OUTLAW
O, Brignall banks are wild and fair,
And Greta woods are green,
And you may gather garlands there
Would grace a summer queen.
And as I rode by Dalton Hall
Beneath the turrets high,
A Maiden on the castle wall
Was singing merrily, —
‘O, Brignall banks are fresh and fair,
And Greta woods are green;
I’d rather rove with Edmund there,
Than reign our English queen.’
– ‘If, Maiden, thou wouldst wend with me,
To leave both tower and town,
Thou first must guess what life lead we,
That dwell by dale and down?
And if thou canst that riddle read,
As read full well you may,
Then to the greenwood shalt thou speed
As blithe as Queen of May.’
Yet sung she, ‘Brignall banks are fair,
And Greta woods are green;
I’d rather rove with Edmund there
Than reign our English queen.’
‘I read you by your bugle horn
And by your palfrey good,
I read you for a Ranger sworn,
To keep the king’s greenwood.’
– ‘A Ranger, lady, winds his horn,
And ’tis at peep of light;
His blast is heard at merry morn,
And mine at dead of night.’
Yet sung she, ‘Brignall banks are fair,
And Greta woods are gay;
I would I were with Edmund there,
To reign his Queen of May!
‘With burnish’d brand and musketoon,
So gallantly you come,
I read you for a bold Dragoon
That lists the tuck of drum.’
– ‘I list no more the tuck of drum,
No more the trumpet hear;
But when the beetle sounds his hum,
My comrades take the spear.
And O! though Brignall banks be fair
And Greta woods be gay,
Yet mickle must the maiden dare,
Would reign my Queen of May!
‘Maiden! a nameless life I lead,
A nameless death I’ll die!
The fiend, whose lantern lights the mead
Were better mate than I!
And when I’m with my comrades met
Beneath the greenwood bough,
What once we were we all forget,
Nor think what we are now.’
CHORUS
Yet Brignall banks are fresh and fair,
And Greta woods are green.
And you may gather garlands there
Would grace a summer queen.
Sir W. Scott.
BATTLE OF THE BALTIC
Of Nelson and the North,
Sing the glorious day’s renown,
When to battle fierce came forth
All the might of Denmark’s crown,
And her arms along the deep proudly shone;
By each gun the lighted brand,
In a bold determined hand,
And the Prince of all the land
Led them on. —
Like leviathans afloat,
Lay their bulwarks on the brine;