146

SELROT POETRY

Away then went these pretty babes,
Rejoicing at that tide,"

Rejoicing with a merry mind,
They should on cock-horse ride.

They prate and prattle pleasantly,
As they rode on their way,

To those that should their murderers be,
And work their lives’ decay ;

So that the pretty speech they had
Made murder's heart relent,

And they that undertook the deed
Fut sore did now repent.

Yet one of them, more hard of heart,
Did vow to do his charge,"

Because the wretch that hired him
Had paid him very large.

The other won't agree thereto ;
So here they fall to strife ;

With one another they did fight
About the children’s life:

And he that was of mildest mood
Did slay the other there,

Within an unfrequented wood—
The babes did quake for fear !

He took the children by the hand,
Tears standing in their eye,

And bade them straightway follow him,
And look‘ they did not cry.

1 Tide-—time
* His charge—that which he had been charged with.
3 Large—for largely. 4 Look—take care.