The one a fine and pretty boy,

Not passing three years old :
The other a girl, more young than be,

And made in beauty's mould.
The father left his little son,

As plainly doth appear,
When he to perfect age should come,

Three hundred pounds a year;
And to his little daughter Jane

Five hundred pounds in gold,
To be paid down on marriage day,

Which might not be controllid,
But if the children chaoc'd to die

Ere they to age should come, Their uncle shonld possess their wealth :

For so the will did run,

“Now, brother,' said the dying man,

• Look to my children dear; Be good unto my boy and girl,

No friends else I have here : To God and you I do commend

My children night and day; But little while, be sure, we have

Within this world to stay. «You must be father and mother both,

And uncle, all in one ; God knows what will become of them

When I am dead and gone.' With that bespake their mother dear :

O brother kind,' quoth she, "You are the man must bring our babes

To wealth or misery.

. And if you keep them carefully,

Then God will you reward ; If otherwise you seem to deal,

God will your deeds regard.' With lips as cold as any stone

She kiss'd her children small: God bless you both, my children dear!"

With that the tears did fall.

These speeches then their brother spoke

To this sick couple there :
« The keeping of your children dear,

Sweet sister, do not fear ;
God never prosper me nor mine,

Nor anght else that I have,
If I do wrong your children dear,

When you are laid in grave!'
Their parents being dead and gone,

The children home he takes,
And brings them both unto bis house,

And much of them he makes.
He had not kept these pretty babes

A twelvemonth and a day,
When for their wealth he did devise
To make them both

away.
He bargain'd with two ruffians rude,

Which were of furious mood,
That they should take the children young,

And slay them in a wood,
He told his wife, and all he had,

He did the children send
To be brought up in fair London,

With one that was his friend.

VO. V.

Away then went these pretty babes,

Rejoicing at that tide; Rejoicing with a merry mind,

They should on cock-horse ride.
They prate and prattle pleasantly,

As they rode on the way,
To those that should their butchers be,

And work their lives' decay.
So that the pretty speech they had,

Made murd'rers' hearts relent;
And they that undertook the deed

Fuß sore they did repent.
Yet one of them, more hard of heart,

Did vow to do his charge,
Because the wretch that hired him

Had paid him very large.
The other would not agree thereto,

So here they fell at strife;
With one another they did fight

About the childrens' life.
And he that was of mildest mood

Did slay the other there,
Within an unfrequented wood;

While babes did quake for fear.
He took the children by the hand,

When tears stood in their eye;
Avd bade them come and go with him,

And look they did not cry:
And two long miles he led them on,

While they for food complain :
Stay here, quoth he, ' I'll bring you bread,
When I do come again.'

<

These pretty babes with hand in hand

Went wand'ring up and down : But never more they saw the man

Approaching from the town. Their pretty lips with blackberries

Were all besmeard and dy'd ;
And when they saw the darksome night,

They sat them down and cried.
Thus wander'd these two pretty babes,

Till death did end their grief;
In one another's arms they died,

As babes wanting relief.
No burial these pretty babes

Of any man receives,
Till Robin-red-breast painfully

Did cover them with leaves.
And now the heavy wrath of God

Upon their uncle fell;
Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house,

His conscience felt a hell.
His barns were fired, his goods consumid,

His lands were barren made, His cattle died within the field,

And nothing with him staid. And, in the voyage of Portugal,

Two of his sons did die ;
And, to conclude, himself was brought

To extreme misery :
He pawn's and mortgag'd all his land

Ere seven years came about,
And now length this wicked act

Did by this means come out:

The fellow that did take in hand

These children for to kill, Was for a robbery judg’d to die,

As was God's blessed will; Who did confess the very truth,

The which is here express’d;
Their uncle died, while he for debt

In prison long did rest.
All you that be executors made,

And overseers eke,
Of children that be fatherless,

And infants mild and meek :
Take you example by this thing,

And give to each his right; Lest God with such like misery,

Your wicked minds requite. Anonymous.

CHEVY CHASE.
God prosper long our noble king,

Our lives and safeties all!
A woeful hunting once there did

In Chevy Chase befal.

To drive the deer with hound and horn

Earl Percy took his way;
The child may rue that is unborn

The hunting of that day.

The stout earl of Northumberland

A vow to God did make,
His pleasure in the Scottish woods

Three summer's days to take;