Away went Gilpin, and away Went postboy at his heels, The postboy's horse right glad to miss The lumb'ring of the wheels. Six gentlemen upon the road, With postboy scamp'ring in the rear, Stop thief! stop thief!—a highwayman! Not one of them was mute; And all and each that pass'd that way Did join in the pursuit. And now the turnpike gates again Flew open in short space; The toll-men thinking as before, And so 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 sing, long live the king, And Gilpin long live he; And, when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see! AN EPISTLE ΤΟ AN AFFLICTED PROTESTANT LADY IN FRANCE. MADAM, A STRANGER'S purpose in these lays The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown; No trav❜ller ever reach'd that blest abode, Who found not thorns and briers in his road. The World may dance along the flow'ry plain, Cheer'd as they go by many a sprightly strain, Where Nature has her mossy velvet spread, With unshod feet they yet securely tread, EPISTLE TO A LADY IN FRANCE. Admonish'd, scorn the caution and the friend, 365 But he, who knew what human hearts would prove, Call'd for a cloud to darken all their years, O salutary streams, that murmur there! These flowing from the fount of grace above, 366 EPISTLE TO A LADY IN FRANCE. Ah, be not sad, although thy lot be cast Far from the flock, and in a boundless waste! No shepherd's tents within thy view appear, But the chief Shepherd even there is near; Thy tender sorrows and thy plaintive strain Flow in a foreign land, but not in vain; Thy tears all issue from a source divine, And ev'ry drop bespeaks a Saviour thineSo once in Gideon's fleece the dews were found, And drought on all the drooping herbs around. |