MANNIX THE COINER
Mannix the coiner and Neville the Piper—
Rebels and outlaws, jolly as thrushes;
They lived in a lane where they had a great
reign
Of piping and coining, and drinking like
fishes.
Neville he swore, with wild fury,
That Mannix should share with him half the
prog;
Then Mannix jump'd up, in a hurry,
And sent off the wife for a gallon of grog.
"Well done!" said the piper; "Play up!" said
the coiner,
"We've gold in our pockets and grog on the
brain;
The law and the gallows are made in the
palace,
While we, who defy them, rejoice in the
lane!"
When the grog was brought in, they soon
swiggd it,
And Neville then rasp'd up another gay tune,
And bold Mannix merrily jigg'd it,
As brisk as a bee in the meadows of June.
"Well done!" said the piper—"Play up!" said
the coiner,
"We are the boys that can live everywhere!
Life, without fun, is like spring without sun—
So we'll flash it away, and the devil may care!
"Those guineas—whoever may take'em—
Are but flying tokens to worldly fools lent,
And I am the boy that can make'em,
As bright as e'er came from the Sassenach
mint!"
"Well done!" said the piper—"Play up!" said
the coiner,
"My golden character I'll always maintain!
And, compared with the schemers who rule and
befool us,
We're real honest men and good boys in the
lane!"
Then Mannix put fire to his grisset,
And out of his mould he shook many a shiner,
But ere he had time to impress it,
In roll'd the peelers and snaffled the coiner,
So there was an end to the piping and coining,
And a ruction was kick'd up, but no one was
slain,—
"I'm done!" said the coiner—"Cheer up," said
the piper,
"Fortune will favour the brave in the lane."
"We have you, at last!" cried the peelers,
"Tho' many a day we have chased you in vain!"
"Then," said Mannix, "your dungeons and jailors
May all be high hang'd—and farewell to the
lane!"
Then off ran the coiner, and loud laughed the
piper,
As his friend disappear'd thro' night's darkness
and rain,
Like a shaft from a quiver, he plung'd o'er the
river,
And left the bold peelers befool'd in the lane.
——M. Hogan.
