XXV

But God forbid that a thief should die
Without his share of the laws!

So I nimbly whipt my tackle out,
And soon tied up his claws,-

I was judge, myself, and jury, and all,

And solemnly tried the cause.

XXVI

But the beggar man would not plead, but cried

Like a babe without its corals,

For he knew how hard it is apt to go

When the law and a thief have quarrels,—
There was not a Christian soul alive
To speak a word for his morals.

XXVII

Oh, how gaily I doff'd my costly gear,
And put on my work-day clothes ;—
I was tired of such a long Sunday life,
And never was one of the sloths;

But the beggar man grumbled a weary deal,
And made many crooked mouths.

XXVIII

So I haul'd him off to the gallows' foot,

And blinded him in his bags;

'Twas a weary job to heave him up,

For a doom'd man always lags;

But by ten of the clock he was off his legs

In the wind and airing his rags!

XXIX

So there he hung, and there I stood

The LAST MAN left alive,

To have my own will of all the earth:

Quoth I, now I shall thrive!

But when was ever honey made
With one bee in a hive!

XXX

My conscience began to gnaw my heart
Before the day was done,

For other men's lives had all gone out,
Like candles in the sun!-

But it seem'd as if I had broke, at last,
A thousand necks in one!

XXXI

So I went and cut his body down

To bury it decentlie ;

God send there were any good soul alive

To do the like by me!

But the wild dogs came with terrible speed,

And bay'd me up the tree!

XXXII

My sight was like a drunkard's sight,
And my head began to swim,

To see their jaws all white with foam,
Like the ravenous ocean-brim ;-
But when the wild dogs trotted away

Their jaws were bloody and grim!

XXXIII

Their jaws were bloody and grim, good Lord!

But the beggar man, where was he?

There was nought of him but some ribbons of rags

Below the gallows' tree!

I know the Devil, when I am dead,

Will send his hounds for me!

XXXIV

I've buried my babies one by one,

And dug the deep hole for Joan,
And cover'd the faces of kith and kin,
And felt the old churchyard stone
Go cold to my heart, full many a time,
But I never felt so lone!

XXXV

For the lion and Adam were company,
And the tiger him beguil'd;

But the simple kine are foes to my life,
And the household brutes are wild.
If the veriest cur would lick my hand,
I could love it like a child!

XXXVI

And the beggar man's ghost besets my dreams, At night to make me madder,

And my wretched conscience, within my breast, Is like a stinging adder ;

I sigh when I pass the gallows' foot,

And look at the rope and ladder !—

XXXVII

For hanging looks sweet,-but, alas! in vain,

My desperate fancy begs,—

I must turn my cup of sorrows quite up,

And drink it to the dregs,

For there is not another man alive,

In the world, to pull my legs!

FAITHLESS SALLY BROWN

AN OLD BALLAD

YOUNG BEN he was a nice young man,
A carpenter by trade;

And he fell in love with Sally Brown,
That was a lady's maid.

But as they fetch'd a walk one day,
They met a press-gang crew;
And Sally she did faint away,

Whilst Ben he was brought to.

The Boatswain swore with wicked words, Enough to shock a saint,

That though she did seem in a fit,

'Twas nothing but a feint.

Come, girl," said he, "hold up your head, He'll be as good as me;

For when your swain is in our boat,

A boatswain he will be."

So when they'd made their game of her,

And taken off her elf,

She roused, and found she only was

A coming to herself.

"And is he gone, and is he gone?"

She cried, and wept outright:

"Then I will to the water-side,

And see him out of sight."

A waterman came up to her,

Now, young woman," said he, "If you weep on so, you will make Eye-water in the sea."

"Alas! they've taken my beau, Ben,
To sail with old Benbow";
And her woe began to run afresh,
As if she'd said Gee woe!

Says he, "They've only taken him
To the Tender-ship, you see
"The Tender-ship," cried Sally Brown,
"What a hard-ship that must be!

"O! would I were a mermaid now,
For then I'd follow him;
But, oh! I'm not a fish-woman,
And so I cannot swim.

"Alas! I was not born beneath
"The virgin and the scales,'
So I must curse my cruel stars,
And walk about in Wales."

Now Ben had sail'd to many a place
That's underneath the world;
But in two years the ship came home,
And all the sails were furl'd.

But when he call'd on Sally Brown,
To see how she went on,
He found she'd got another Ben,
Whose Christian name was John.

"O Sally Brown, O Sally Brown,
How could you serve me so,
I've met with many a breeze before,
But never such a blow!"