Ile took the goose upon his arm,

He utter'd words of scorning;

"So keep you cold, or keep you warm.

It is a stormy morning. "

The wild wind rang from park and plain

And round the attics rumbled,

Till all the tables danced again,

And half the chimneys tumbled.

The glass blew in, the fire blew out.
The blast was hard and harder.

Her cap blew off, her gown blew up,

And a whirlwind clear'd the larder

And while on all sides breaking loose
Her household fled the danger,

Quoth she, "The Devil take the goos

And God forget the stranger!"

ENGLISH IDYLS AND

OTHER POEMS.

(PUBLISHED 1842.)

The game of forfeits done-the giris all kiss'd

Beneath the sacred bush and past away-
The parson Holmes, the poet Everard Hall,
The host, and I sat round the wassail-bowl,
Then half-way ebb'd: and there we held a talk,
How all the old honour had from Christmas gone,
Or gone, or dwindled down to some odd games