But still he seem'd to carry weight,
With leathern girdle braced;
For all might see the bottle necks
Still dangling at his waist.

Thus all through merry Islington°
These gambols did he play,
Until he came unto the Wash

"Stop, stop, John Gilpin! Here's the house,"

They all at once did cry;

"The dinner waits, and we are tired:"

Said Gilpin "So am I!"

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But yet his horse was not a whit

Inclined to tarry there;

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For why? his owner had a house
Full ten miles off, at Ware.°

So like an arrow swift he flew,

Shot by an archer strong;

So did he fly which brings me to
The middle of my song.

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Away went Gilpin out of breath,

And sore against his will,

Till at his friend the calender's

His horse at last stood still.

The calender, amazed to see

His neighbor in such trim,

Laid down his pipe, flew to the gate,

And thus accosted him:

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"What news? what news? your tidings tell;

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Tell me you must and shall

Say why bareheaded you are come,

Or why you come at all?”

Now Gilpin had a pleasant wit,
And loved a timely joke;

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And thus unto the calender

In merry guise he spoke:

"I came because your horse would come;

Whence straight he came with hat and wig;

A wig that flow'd behind,

A hat not much the worse for wear,

Each comely in its kind.

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He held them up, and in his turn
Thus show'd his ready wit,

My head is twice as big as yours,
They therefore needs must fit.

"But let me scrape the dirt away
That hangs upon your face;
And stop and eat, for well you may
Be in a hungry case."

Said John," It is my wedding day,
And all the world would stare,
If wife should dine at Edmonton,
And I should dine at Ware."

So turning to his horse, he said,
"I am in haste to dine;

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

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

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

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.

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Now mistress Gilpin, when she saw
Her husband posting down
Into the country far away,

She pull'd out half a crown;

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"This shall be yours, when you bring back

My husband safe and well."

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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,

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The frighted steed he frighted more,
And made him faster run.

Away went Gilpin, and away

Went postboy at his heels,

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The postboy's horse right glad to miss
The lumbering of the wheels.

Six gentlemen upon the road,

Thus seeing Gilpin fly,

With postboy scampering in the rear,
They raised the hue and cry°: —

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"Stop thief! stop thief! — a highwayman!”

Not one of them was mute;

And all and each that passed that way

Did join in the pursuit.

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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!

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