Page:Sibylline Leaves (Coleridge).djvu/102

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XV.

Through gardens, lanes and fields new plough'd,

Through his hedge, and through her hedge,
He plung'd and toss'd and bellow'd loud,
Till in his madness he grew proud,
To see this helter-skelter crowd,
That had more wrath than courage.

XVI.

Alas! to mend the breaches wide

He made for these poor ninnies,
They all must work, whate'er betide,
Both days and months, and pay beside,
(Sad news for Avarice and for Pride)
A sight of golden guineas!

XVII.

But here once more to view did pop

The man that kept his senses;
And now he cried—"Stop, neighbours! stop;
The Ox is mad! I would not swop,
No! not a school-boy's farthing-top,
For all the parish-fences."