But let me scrape the dirt away And stop and eat, for well you may Said John-It is my wedding-day, So, turning to his horfe, he faid- 'Twas for your pleasure you came here, You shall go back for mine. Ah, luckless speech, and bootlefs boast! Whereat his horfe did fnort, as he And gallop'd off with all his might, Away went Gilpin, and away Now, Mrs Gilpin, when the faw And thus unto the youth she said The youth did ride, and foon did meet John coming back amain; Whom in a trice he tried to stop, By catching at his rein; But, not performig what he meant, The frighted fteed he frighted more, Away went Gilpin, and away Went poft-boy at his heels! The poft-boy's horfe right glad to mifs The lumb'ring of the wheels. Six gentlemen upon the road, With poft-boy fcamp'ring in the rear, Stop thief! ftop thief!—a highwayman! And fo 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 fing-Long live the king, And Gilpin, long live he; And, when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to fee! Pale Death, with equal foot strikes wide the door HORACE. WHILE thirteen moons faw fmoothly run All thefe, Life's rambling journey done, Was Man, (frail always) made more frail Did Famine or did Plague prevail, That fo much death appears? Σ Ε 3 |