The western tide crept up along the sand, And o'er and o'er the sand, And round and round the sand, As far as eye could see. The rolling mist came down and hid the land : And never home came she. "Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hairA tress of golden hair, A drowned maiden's hair Was never salmon yet that shone so fair They rowed her in across the rolling foam, The cruel crawling foam, The cruel hungry foam, To her grave beside the sea : But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home Across the sands of Dee. C. KINGSLEY. Ballad of Earl Haldan's Daughter ≈ IT was Earl Haldan's daughter, She looked across the sea; She looked across the water; "The locks of six princesses Must be my marriage fee, So hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat! It was Earl Haldan's daughter, When she was aware of a knight so fair, Came sailing to the land. His sails were all of velvet, His mast of beaten gold, And "Hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat! "The locks of five princesses To fringe a cloak for thee. But one of all the tale; So hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat! He leapt into the water, That rover young and bold; Now hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat! Sail Westward ho! away!" C. KINGSLEY. Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrèe I. "ARE you ready for your steeple-chase, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrée ? Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, You're booked to ride your capping race to-day at Coulterlee, You're booked to ride Vindictive, for all the world to see, To keep him straight, to keep him first, and win the run for me. Barum, Barum," etc. II. She clasped her new-born baby, poor Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrèe, "I cannot ride Vindictive, as any man might see, And I will not ride Vindictive, with this baby on my knee; He's killed a boy, he's killed a man, and why must he kill me?" III. "Unless you ride Vindictive, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrée, Unless you ride Vindictive to-day at Coulterlee, And land him safe across the brook, and win the blank for me, It's you may keep your baby, for you'll get no keep from me." IV. "That husbands could be cruel," said Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrée, "That husbands could be cruel, I have known for seasons three ; But oh! to ride Vindictive while a baby cries for me, And be killed across a fence at last for all the world to see!" V. She mastered young Vindictive-Oh! the gallant lass was she, And kept him straight and won the race as near as near could be ; But he killed her at the brook against a pollard willow-tree, Oh! he killed her at the brook, the brute, for all the world to see, And no one but the baby cried for poor Lorraine, Lorrée. C. KINGSLEY. A Ballad for a Boy WHEN George the Third was reigning a hundred years ago, He ordered Captain Farmer to chase the foreign foe. "You're not afraid of shot," said he, "you're not afraid of wreck, So cruise about the west of France in the frigate called Quebec. Quebec was once a Frenchman's town, but twenty years ago King George the Second sent a man called General Wolfe, you know, To clamber up a precipice and look into Quebec, As you'd look down a hatchway when standing on the deck. "If Wolfe could beat the Frenchmen then so you can beat them now. Before he got inside the town he died, I must allow. But since the town was won for us it is a lucky name, And you'll remember Wolfe's good work, and you shall do the same." |