FOR CHILDREN. 143

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.!

Now ponder well, you parents dear,
These words which I shall write;
A doleful story you shall hear,
In time brought forth to light:

A gentleman of good account
In Norfolk dwelt of late,

Who did in honour far surmount?
Most men of his estate.

Sore sick he was, and like to die,
No help his life could save ;

His wife by him as sick did lie,
And both possest one grave,

No love between these two was lost,
Each was to other kind ;

In love they lived, in love they died,
And left two babes behind :—

The one a fine and pretty boy,
Not passing three years old ;

The other a girl, more young than he,
And framed in beauty’s mould.

The father left his little son,
As plainly doth appear,

When he to perfect age® should come,
Three hundred pounds a year. -

1 This very popular ballad is here reprinted from Percy’s
Reliques, with such slight alterations, both in the ortho-

phy and the style, as were necessary.to fit it for this
Eelection, The original copy is thought to be more than
two hundred years old.

* Surmount—exceed. 3 Perfect age~the age of 21