For long ere now it should have been rehearsed,
'Twas in the garden that I found him first.
Even there I found him-there the full-grown cat,
His head, with velvet paw, did gently pat;
As curious as the kittens each had been
To learn what this phenomenon might mean.
Fill'd with heroic ardour at the sight,
And fearing every moment he would bite,
And rob our household of our only cat
That was of age to combat with a rat,
With outstretch'd hoe I slew him at the door,
And taught him never to come thither more.

CLII

W. Cowper

THE PRIEST AND THE MULBERRY-
TREE

Did you hear of the curate who mounted his mare,
And merrily trotted along to the fair?

Of creature more tractable none ever heard,

In the height of her speed she would stop at a
word;

But again with a word, when the curate said, Hey,
She put forth her mettle and gallop'd away.

As near to the gates of the city he rode,
While the sun of September all brilliantly glow'd,
The good priest discover'd, with eyes of desire,
A mulberry-tree in a hedge of wild briar ;
On boughs long and lofty, in many a green shoot,
Hung large, black, and glossy, the beautiful fruit.

e was hungry and thirsty to boot;

k from the thorns, though he long'd for uit;

ord he arrested his courser's keen speed, ood up erect on the back of his steed; ddle he stood while the creature stood still, ther'd the fruit till he took his good fill.

er,' he thought, 'was a creature so rare, so true, as my excellent mare; ow I stand,' and he gazed all around, nd as steady as if on the ground; ad it been, if some traveller this way, ming no mischief, but chanced to cry,

with his head in the mulberry-tree, oke out aloud in his fond reverie ; and of the word the good mare made a

went the priest in the wild-briar bush. ber'd too late, on his thorny green bed, I well may be thought cannot wisely be T. L. Peacock

CLIII

THE PRIDE OF YOUTH

Proud Maisie is in the wood,

Walking so early;

Sweet Robin sits on the bush
Singing so rarely.

X

They couch'd their spears, (their horses ran
As though there had been thunder,)
And struck them each immidst their shields,
Wherewith they broke in sunder.

S

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