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'Tis the breath of good Sir Eustace!
He is come to claim his right:

Ancient Castle, Woods, and Mountains
Hear the challenge with delight.
Hubert! though the blast be blown

He is helpless and alone :

Thou hast a dungeon, speak the word!

And there he may be lodg'd, and thou be Lord.

Speak! astounded Hubert cannot;

And if power to speak he had,

All are daunted, all the household

Smitten to the heart, and sad.

"Tis Sir Eustace; if it be

Living Man, it must be he!

Thus Hubert thought in his dismay,
And by a Postern-gate he slunk away.

Long, and long was he unheard of:
To his Brother then he came,
Made confession, ask'd forgiveness,

Ask'd it by a Brother's name,
And by all the saints in heaven;

And of Eustace was forgiv':

Then in a Convent went to hide

His melancholy head, and there he died.

But Sir Eustace, whom good Angels
Had preserv'd from Murderers' hands,
And from Pagan chains had rescued,

Liv'd with honour on his lands.

Sons he had, saw Sons of theirs

:

And through ages, Heirs of Heirs,

A long posterity renown'd,

Sounded the Horn which they alone could sound.

VOL. I.

*

XII.

GOODY BLAKE AND HARRY GILL,

A TRUE STORY.

OH! what's the matter? what's the matter?
What is't that ails young Harry Gill?
That evermore his teeth they chatter,
Chatter, chatter, chatter still!

Of waistcoats Harry has no lack,
Good duffle gray, and flannel fine;
He has a blanket on his back,
And coats enough to smother nine.

In March, December, and in July,
'Tis all the same with Harry Gill;
The neighbours tell, and tell you truly,
His teeth they chatter, chatter still.
At night, at morning, and at noon,
"Tis all the same with Harry Gill;
Beneath the sun, beneath the moon,
His teeth they chatter, chatter still!

Young Harry was a lusty drover,
And who so stout of limb as he?
His cheeks were red as ruddy clover;
His voice was like the voice of three.
Old Goody Blake was old and poor;
Ill fed she was, and thinly clad;
And any man who pass'd her door
Might see how poor a hut she had.

All day she spun in her poor dwelling :
And then her three hours' work at night!
Alas! 'twas hardly worth the telling,
It would not pay for candle-light.
-This woman dwelt in Dorsetshire,—
Her hut was on a cold hill side,
And in that country coals are dear,
For they come far by wind and tide.

By the same fire to boil their pottage,
Two poor old Dames, as I have known,
Will often live in one small cottage;
But she, poor Woman! dwelt alone.
'Twas well enough when summer came,
The long, warm, lightsome summer-day,
Then at her door the canty Dame
Would sit, as any linnet gay.

Y 2

But when the ice our streams did fetter,
Oh! then how her old bones would shake!
You would have said, if you had met her,
'Twas a hard time for Goody Blake.

Her evenings then were dull and dead!
Sad case it was, as you may think,
For very cold to go to bed;

And then for cold not sleep a wink.

Oh joy for her! whene'er in winter
The winds at night had made a rout;
And scattered many a lusty splinter
And many a rotten bough about.
Yet never had she, well or sick,
As every man who knew her says,
A pile before hand, wood or stick,
Enough to warm her for three days.

Now, when the frost was past enduring,
And made her poor old bones to ache,
Could any thing be more alluring

Than an old hedge to Goody Blake?

And, now and then, it must be said,
When her old bones were cold and chill,

She left her fire, or left her bed,

To seek the hedge of Harry Gill.

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