198

SELECT POETRY

If wife should dine at Edmonton,
And I should dine at Ware.”

So turning to his horse, he said,
‘“«T am in haste to dine;

"Twas for your pleasure you came here,
You shall go back for mine.”

Ah! luckless speech, and bootless! boast !
For which he paid full dear ;

For, while he spoke, a braying ass
Did sing most loud and clear ;

Whereat? his horse did snort, as he
Had heard a lion roar,

And galloped off with all his might,
As he had done before.

Away went Gilpin, and away
Went Gilpin’s hat and wig ;
He lost them sooner than at first,

For why ?—they were too big.

Now Mistress Gilpin, when she saw
Her husband posting down

Into the country far away,
She pulled out half-a-crown,

And thus unto the youth she said
That drove them to the Bell—

“ This shall be yours, when you bring back

My husband safe and well.”

1 Bootless—useless, unavailing.
2 Wf’hereut—at which.