The FLIGHTS.
39
Yet shall the squire, who fought on bloody stumps,
By future bards be wail'd in doleful dumps.
All in the land of Essex next he chaunts,[1]
How to steek mares starch Quakers turn gallants; 110
How the grave brother stood on bank so green:
Happy for him if mares had never been![2]
Then he was seiz'd with a religious qualm,
And on a sudden sung the hundredth Psalm.
He sung of Taffey-Welsh, and Sawney-Scot, 115
Lilly-bullero and the Irish Trot,
Why should I tell of Bateman or of Shore,[3][4]
Or Wantley's dragon slain by valiant Moore,
The bow'r of Rosamond, or Robin Hood, 119
And how the grass now grows where Troy town stood?
His carrols ceas'd: The list'ning maids and swains
Seem still to hear some soft imperfect strains.
Sudden he rose; and as he reels along,
Swears kisses sweet should well reward his song.
The damsels laughing fly; the giddy clown 125
Again upon a wheat-sheaf drops adown;
The pow'r that guards the drunk, his sleep atends,
'Till ruddy, like his face, the sun descends.
By future bards be wail'd in doleful dumps.
All in the land of Essex next he chaunts,[1]
How to steek mares starch Quakers turn gallants; 110
How the grave brother stood on bank so green:
Happy for him if mares had never been![2]
Then he was seiz'd with a religious qualm,
And on a sudden sung the hundredth Psalm.
He sung of Taffey-Welsh, and Sawney-Scot, 115
Lilly-bullero and the Irish Trot,
Why should I tell of Bateman or of Shore,[3][4]
Or Wantley's dragon slain by valiant Moore,
The bow'r of Rosamond, or Robin Hood, 119
And how the grass now grows where Troy town stood?
His carrols ceas'd: The list'ning maids and swains
Seem still to hear some soft imperfect strains.
Sudden he rose; and as he reels along,
Swears kisses sweet should well reward his song.
The damsels laughing fly; the giddy clown 125
Again upon a wheat-sheaf drops adown;
The pow'r that guards the drunk, his sleep atends,
'Till ruddy, like his face, the sun descends.
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- ↑ Line 109. A song of Sir J. Denham's See his poems.
- ↑ 112. Et fortunatum si nunquam Armenta fuissent Pasiphaen.Virg.
- ↑ 117. Old English Ballads.
- ↑ 117. Quid loquar aut Scyllam Nisi, &c.Virg.
