Shep. Lord, what is she that can so turn and wind? Echo. Wind. Shep. If she be wind, what stills her when she blows? Echo. Blows. Shep. But if she bang again, still should I bang her? Echo. Shep. Is there no way to moderate her anger? Bang her. Echo. Hang her. Echo. Shep. Thanks, gentle Echo! right thy answers tell What woman is and how to guard her well. Guard her well. THE WELL OF ST. KEYNE. ROBERT SOUTHEY. A WELL there is in the west country, And a clearer one never was seen; An oak and an elm-tree stand beside, A traveller came to the well of St. Keyne, For from cock-crow he had been travelling, And there was not a cloud in the sky. He drank of the water so cool and clear, For thirsty and hot was he, And he sat down upon the bank Under the willow-tree. There came a man from the house hard by At the well to fill his pail ; On the well-side he rested it, 'Now, art thou a bachelor, stranger?' quoth he, ( For an' if thou hast a wife, The happiest draught thou hast drank this day, 'Or hast thy good woman, if one thou hast, Ever here in Cornwall been? For an' if she have, I'll venture my life She has drank of the well of St. Keyne.' 'I have left a good woman who never was here,' The stranger he made reply, 'But that my draught should be the better for that, I pray you answer me why?' 'St. Keyne,' quoth the Cornish-man, 'many a time Drank of this crystal well, And before the angels summon'd her, She laid on the water a spell. 'If the husband of this gifted well For he shall be master for life. 'But if the wife should drink of it first, God help the husband then!' The stranger stoop'd to the well of St. Keyne, 'You drank of the well I warrant betimes?' He to the Cornish-man said: But the Cornish-man smiled as the stranger spake, 'I hasten'd as soon as the wedding was done, But i' faith she had been wiser than me, SAINT PATRICK. DR. MAGINN. William Maginn, LL.D., the 'Modern Rabelais' and 'Sir Morgan O'Doherty' of Blackwood and Fraser, and who is immortalized in the Noctes Ambrosiana, was one of the most fertile and versatile writers of modern days. Born at Cork 1793, died 1842. A FIG for St. Dennis of France, He's a trumpery fellow to brag on; And the Saints of the Welshman or Scot, He came to the Emerald Isle On a lump of a paving-stone mounted; Which mighty good sailing was counted. To keep down the mullegrubs, burst ye! He preach'd then with wonderful force, With a pint he wash'd down his discourse, Exclaim'd, 'We're for you my old buck, This ended, our worshipful spoon Was to get most delightfully mellow. That day, with a black jack of beer, The pewter he lifted in sport And they all took a haul at the stingo; Next day, quoth his host, "'Tis a fast, And bid it come hither a salmon !' And the leg most politely complied. You've heard, I suppose, long ago, How the snakes in a manner most antic, He march'd to the county Mayo, And trundled them into th' Atlantic. |