Grimalkin

     In the ingle nook of the stone-cot sat,

     Sib to Satan, the old black cat.

     Lone and Bleak beneath Harter Fell!

     But she knew all things in earth and hell.

     "To-night", quoth she to a neighbour, "lie

     "In the full red glow of the peats shall I".

     "Hast thou no fear", cries she, "to jog

     "The jealous nerve of Rollo, the dog?"

     "Rollo will range on afar trail,

     "And worry the sheep in Ennerdale!"

     "But Rab the herd your master ?" "Song

     "Old ale, and merriment all night long!"

     "Him, starveling?" "Well fare man and beast

     "When Dick the farmer makes a feast".

     "I heard he sulked this many a year,

     "Close shaved his groats, and stinted cheer".

     "Ay! for a tyrant ground him grim,

     "The Prior of Grassmere that hag-rid him;

     "And to-night the Prior lies in a dyke,

     "Meat for the corbies of Langdale Pike".

     "Who dared it? What's a purse or twain

     "And a dirk-thrust through the jugular vein?"

     "His saint should have kept him clear o' the track

     "Of wry—Neck Hal of Saddleback".

     "What! Wry-Neck Hal escape the sword

     "Of stout Earl Strang, the Marches' Ward?"

     "The Earl was taken and slain by guile

     "Of the Lord Bishop of Carlisle!"

     "The Duke hath other fields to order;

     "The rascal Scots are over the Border"

     "More madmen they to risk a raid

     "The King is back from the great Crusade".

Grimalkin

(Alternate Version)

     In the ingle nook of the stone-cot sat,

     Sib to Satan, the old black cat.

     Lone and Bleak beneath Harter Fell!

     But she knew all things in earth and hell.

     "To-night", quoth she to a neighbour, "lie

     "In the full red glow of the peats shall I".

     "Hast thou no fear", cries she, "to jog

     "The jealous nerve of Rollo, the dog?"

     "Rollo will range on afar trail,

     "And worry the sheep in Ennerdale!"

     "But Rab the herd your master ?" "Song

     "Old ale, and merriment all night long!"

     "Him, starveling?" "Well fare man and beast

     "When Dick the farmer makes a feast".

     "I heard he sulked this many a year,

     "Close shaved his groats, and stinted cheer".

     "Ay! for a tyrant ground him grim,

     "The Prior of Grassmere that hag-rid him;

     "And to-night the Prior lies in a dyke,

     "Meat for the corbies of Langdale Pike".

     "Who dared it? What's a purse or twain

     "And a dirk-thrust through the jugular vein?"

     "His saint should have kept him clear o' the track

     "Of wry—Neck Hal of Saddleback".

     "What! Wry-Neck Hal escape the sword

     "Of stout Earl Strang, the Marches' Ward?"

     "The Earl was taken and slain by guile

     "Of the Lord Bishop of Carlisle!"

     "Loughate! But The Bishop feared the hand

     "Of the bold Duke of Northumberland".

     "Shut Carlisle get as, given Death for [illegible]

     "Any that followed the Duke's pennant".

     "How comes the Duke hath other fields to order;

     "The rascal Scots are over the Border"

     "The Duke hath other fields to order;

     "The rascal Scots are over the Border"

     "And swears he will march on Derby." "And why,

     "Their Earl his kinsman and his ally?"

     "To join him?" "To levy the blood-tax

     "On who bared his neck to the headsman's axe".

     "They dared?" "The Lord High Chancellor!"

     "In England—how?" "It is civil war".

     "So sudden?" "The general discontent

     "Blazed when the thatch of government

     "Fell in". "Has London no word to say?"

     "Ay but the one word is Dismay!"

     "Who spoke it?" "A tailor's son cried Fate

     "When he fell with his horse in Billingsgate!"

     "Grimalkin, prithee, jest not! Down

     "In the knave's fall fell great London Town?"

     "Nay, 'twas his horse fell!" "Strangelier said!"

     "Strange, as all truth; for the horse fell dead",

     "And the tailor's son was too weak to leap

     "Free, and—the torch to the powder-heap!

     "How died the horse?" "His brave heart-stroke

     "Lashed him to gallop—until heart broke".

     "Feared he not death?" "Maybe, no doubt;

     "Nut more the whip, the spur, and the shout!"

     "Why was the knave so pressed?" "He brought

     "A woman's letter from Dover Port".

     "Great news from a queen, that London Town

     "At the wind of it should turn upside down?"

     "Only a Jew's wife who had weighed

     "Gold ([illegible] silver a king had paid).

     "To the knave if by twelve hours he contrived

     "To reach Eastcheap ere his fellows arrived."

     "For the Lord (wrote she) hath looked on France,

     "Ordered event, and guided chance".

     "Of an arrow shot at a venture, dart

     "To the heart of Richard Lion-Heart!"

     "So shall I, Graymalkin, glut desire

     "To sleep all night in front of the fire".

     "More madmen they to risk a raid

     "The King is back from the great Crusade".

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