BLIND-MAN'S BUFF.

WHEN silver snow decks Susan's clothes, And jewel hangs at th' shepherd's nose, The blushing bank is all my care,

With hearth so red and walls so fair;

Heap the sea-coal, come, heap it higher, 'The oaken log lay on the fire.'

The well-washed stools, a circling row,
With lad and lass, how fair the show!
The merry can of nut-brown ale,
The laughing jest, the love-sick tale :
'Till, tired of chat, the game begins,
The lasses prick the lads with pins;
Roger from Dolly twitched the stool,
She falling, kissed the ground, poor fool!
She blushed so red, with side-long glance
At hob-nail Dick who grieved the chance.
But now for Blind-man's Buff they call;
Of each incumbrance clear the hall!

Jenny her silken 'kerchief folds, And blear-eyed Will the black lot holds; Now, laughing, stops, with 'Silence! hush!' And Peggy Pout gives Sam a push. The Blind-man's arms, extended wide, Sam slips between ;-O woe betide Thee, clumsy Will!-but tittering Kate

Is penned up in the corner strait!
And now Will's eyes beheld the play,
He thought his face was t'other way.
Now, Kitty, now! what chance hast thou!
Roger so near thee trips!-I vow
She catches him!-then Roger ties
His own head up, but not his eyes;
For thro' the slender cloth he sees,
And runs at Sam, who slips with ease
His clumsy hold; and, dodging round,
Sukey is tumbled on the ground!
See what it is to play unfair!

Where cheating is, there's mischief there.
But Roger still pursues the chase,-
'He sees! he sees!' cries softly Grace.
O Roger, thou, unskilled in art,
Must, surer bound, go through thy part!

Now Kitty, pert, repeats the rhymes, And Roger turns him round three times; Then pauses ere he starts-But Dick Was mischief-bent upon a trick:

Down on his hands and knees he lay,

Directly in the Blind-man's way

Then cries out, Hem!' Hodge heard and ran With hood-winked chance-sure of his man;

But down he came.-Alas, how frail

Our best of hopes, how soon they fail!
With crimson drops he stains the ground,
Confusion startles all around!

Poor piteous Dick supports his head,
And fain would cure the hurt he made;

But Kitty hastens with a key,

And down his back they straight convey

The cold relief; the blood is stay'd,
And Hodge again holds up his head.

Such are the fortunes of the game;

And those who play should stop the same
By wholesome laws: such as,-all those
Who on the blinded man impose

Stand in his stead. So, long a-gone,
When men were first a nation grown,
Lawless they lived, till wantonness
And liberty began to increase,

And one man lay in another's way:

Then laws were made to keep fair play.

KING EDWARD THE THIRD.

(SELECTIONS.)

SCENE I.-The coast of France: KING EDWARD and Nobles before it; the Army.

King.

Our names are written equal

In Fame's wide-trophied halls; 'tis ours to gild
The letters, and to make them shine with gold.
That never tarnishes: whether Third Edward,
Or Prince of Wales or Montacute or Mortimer,
Or e'en the least by birth, gain brightest fame,
Is in His hand to whom all men are equal.
The world of men is like the numerous stars
That beam and twinkle in the depth of night,
Each clad in glory according to his sphere :-
But we that wander from our native seats,
And beam forth lustre on a darkling world,
Grow larger as we advance; and some, perhaps
The most obscure at home, that scarce were seen
To twinkle in their sphere, may so advance
That the astonish'd world, with upturn'd eyes,
Regardless of the moon and those once bright,
Stand only but to gaze upon their splendour.

[He here knights the Prince and other young Nobles.

Now let us take a just revenge for those

Brave lords who fell beneath the bloody axe

At Paris.

Noble Harcourt, thanks, for 'twas
By your advice we landed here in Brittany,
A country not as yet sown with destruction,
And where the fiery whirlwind of swift war
Hath not yet swept its desolating wing.
Into three parties we divide by day,

And separate march, but join again at night:
Each knows his rank, and Heaven marshals all.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-At Cressy. The KING and SIR THOMAS DAGWORTH. The PRINCE OF WALES and SIR JOHN CHANDOS.

King. What can Sir Thomas Dagworth

Request that Edward can refuse?

Dagw. I hope

Your majesty cannot refuse so mere

A trifle I've gilt your cause with my best blood,
And would again, were I not now forbid

By him whom I am bound to obey. My hands.
Are tied up, all my courage shrunk and wither'd,
My sinews slacken'd, and my voice scarce heard:
Therefore I beg I may return to England.

King. I know not what you could have ask'd, Sir Thomas,

That I would not have sooner parted with

Than such a soldier as you, and such a friend;

Nay, I will know the most remote particulars

Of this your strange petition, that if I can

I still may keep you here.

Dagw. Here on the fields of Cressy we are settled, 'Till Philip spring the timorous covey again.

The wolf is hunted down by causeless fear;
The lion flees, and fear usurps his heart,
Startled, astonish'd at the clamorous cock.

VOL. II.

C