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

And gallop'd 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, Mrs Gilpin, when she saw
Her husband posting down
Into the country far away,

She pull'd 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."

The youth did ride, and soon did meet
John coming back amain;
Whom in a trice he tried to stop,
By catching at his rein;

But not performing what he meant,
And gladly would have done,
The frighted steed he frighted more,
And made him faster run.

Away went Gilpin-and away
Went post-boy at his heels;
The post-boy's horse right glad to miss
The lumb'ring of the wheels.

Six gentlemen upon the road,
Thus seeing Gilpin fly,

With post-boy scamp'ring in the rear,
They rais'd the hue and cry.

"Stop thief!-stop thief!-a highwayman!"
Not one of them was mute,
And all and each that pass'd that way,
Did join in the pursuit.

And now the turnpike gates again
Flew open in short space;
The toll-men thinking, as before,
That Gilpin rode a race:

And so he did, and won it too;

For he got first to town:

Nor stopp'd, till where he had got up
He did again get down.

Now let us sing-Long live the king;
And Gilpin, long live he;

And when he next doth ride abroad,
May I be there to see.

LEONORA.

From the German of Bürger.

Ar break of day with frightful dreams
Leonora struggled sore;

"My William, art thou slain," said she,
"Or dost thou love no more ?"

He went abroad with Richard's host,
The Paynim foes to quell ;

But he no word to her had wrote

If he were sick or well.

With sound of trump, and beat of drum,
His fellow-soldiers come;

Their helms bedeck'd with oaken boughs,
They seek their long'd-for home.

And every road and every lane
Was full of old and young,
To gaze at the rejoicing band,

To hail with gladsome tongue.

"Thank God!" their wives and children said, "Welcome!" the brides did say ;

But greet or kiss Leonora gave

To none upon that day.

She ask'd of all the passing train
For him she wish'd to see;
But none of all the passing train
Could tell if lived he.

And when the soldiers all were by,
She tore her raven hair,

And cast herself upon the ground,
In furious despair.

Her mother ran, and lift her up,
And clasped in her arm,
"My child, my child, what dost thou ail?
God shield thy life from harm!"

"O mother, mother, William's gone!
What's all beside to me?

There is no mercy, sure, above;
All, all were spar'd but he."

"Kneel down, thy paternoster say,
'Twill calm thy troubled sp'rit:
The Lord is wise, the Lord is good;
What he hath done is right."

"O mother, mother, say not soMost cruel is my fate;

I pray'd, and pray'd-but what avail'd? 'Tis now, alas! too late."

"Our heavenly Father, if we pray,
Will help a suffering child;
Go take the holy sacrament,
So shall thy grief grow mild."

"O mother, what I feel within
No sacrament can stay;
No sacrament can teach the dead
To bear the sight of day."

"May be, among the heathen folk,
Thy William false doth prove,
And puts away his faith and troth,
And takes another love:

"Then wherefore sorrow for his loss?
Thy moans are all in vain :
And when his soul and body part,
His falsehood brings him pain.”

"O mother, mother! he is gone,
My hope is all forlorn;

The grave my only safeguard is,-
O, had I ne'er been born!

"Go out, go out, my lamp of life! In grisly darkness die :

There is no mercy, sure, above!
For ever let me die."

Almighty God! O do not judge
My poor unhappy child;

She knows not what her lips pronounce,
Her anguish makes her wild.

My girl, forget thine earthly woe,
And think on God and bliss!
For so, at least, shall not thy soul
Its heavenly bridegroom miss."

"O mother, mother! what is bliss,
And what the fiendis cell?
With him 'tis heaven any where,
Without my William, hell.

"Go out, go out, my lamp of life!
In endless darkness die :

Without him, I must loath the earth,
Without him, scorn the sky."

And so despair did rave and rage
Athwart her boiling veins;
Against the providence of Heaven
She hurl'd her impious strains.

She beat her breast, and wrung her hands, And roll'd her tearless eye,

From rise of morn till the pale stars

Again did freak the sky.

When hark! abroad she heard the tramp

Of nimble-hoofed steed;

She heard a knight with clank alight,
And climb the stair in speed.