RURAL TALES, BALLADS AND SONGS (1802)
THE FRENCH MARINER: A BALLAD
1
AN Old French Mariner am I,
Whom Time hath render’d poor and gray;
Hear, conquering Britons, ere I die,
What anguish prompts me thus to say.
2
RURAL TALES, BALLADS AND SONGS (1802)
DOLLY. A BALLAD
‘Ingenuous trust, and confidence of Love.’
RURAL TALES, BALLADS AND SONGS (1802)
THE FAKENHAM GHOST. A BALLAD
1
The Lawns were dry in Euston Park;
(Here Truth
RURAL TALES, BALLADS AND SONGS (1802)
MARKET-NIGHT. A BALLAD
1
‘O Winds, howl not so long and loud;
Nor with your vengeance arm the snow:
Bear hence each heavy-loaded cloud;
And let the twinkling Star-beams glow.
2
RURAL TALES, BALLADS AND SONGS (1802)
THE WIDOW TO HER HOUR-GLASS
1
COME, friend, I’ll turn thee up again:
Companion of the lonely hour!
Spring thirty times hath fed with rain
And cloath’d with leaves my humble bower,
Since thou hast stood5
In frame of wood,
RURAL TALES, BALLADS AND SONGS (1802)
THE MILLER’S MAID. A TALE
NEAR the High road upon a winding stream
An honest Miller rose to Wealth and Fame:
The noblest Virtues cheer’d his lengthen’d days,
And all the Country echo’d with his praise:
His Wife, the Doctress of the neighb’ring Poor,
RURAL TALES, BALLADS AND SONGS (1802)
Walter AND Jane: OR, THE POOR BLACKSMITH. A COUNTRY TALE
BRIGHT was the summer sky, the Mornings gay,
And Jane was young and chearful as the Day.
Not yet to Love but Mirth she paid her vows;
And Echo mock’d her as she call’d her Cows.
RURAL TALES, BALLADS AND SONGS (1802)
RICHARD AND KATE; OR, FAIR-DAY. A SUFFOLK BALLAD
1
‘Come, Goody, stop your humdrum wheel,
Sweep up your orts,