MAY GAMES.—Hogg's-Wake.
The village is out, the village is out,
Peasant and clodhopper, fool and flout;
Fast in the collars the grinners are seen,
And the squeaking grunter is loose on the green:
Halloo him, follow him, frighten him on!
Whip him and skip him, fast bid him be gone!
'Bout him, and knout him, and give him the flail,
And put plenty of soap on his curly tail!
Thus, in the midst of a beautiful run,
My tale is begun, my tale is begun!
Like a man after lodgings, who's got a first floor,
You're down on your belly, you country boor;
And his tail has given your fingers more
Soap than they've seen for a year before;
Good little tail, sleek, greasy, and lean,
Trying the villagers' hands to clean;
And see how they flounder, and see how they fail,
In seeking to hold by the slippery tail!
Thus, while pig and tail the villagers diddle,
My tale's in the middle, my tale's in the middle!
'Mid laughter, 'mid laughter, ran after! run after!
The tail of the grunter taunts great and small!
Catch it you can't, for it bobs aslant,
Like an eel that's beating the heels of you all!
That pig so sleek, it'll hold for a week
Its present connexion 'twixt Grisi and squall;
Till fairly worn out with its slipping about,
When you catch it, it wont have a tail at all:
So here, at the tail of the sport, my friend,
My tale and the pig's tail are both at an end!
Cotter's Saturday Night.
27. Order of the Bath. 1725. Water witch.
(Family Tale of a Tub.)
31. Wit Monday.
Admiral De Witt.
Pray, who is the fellow of infinite fun,
Of whom men declare that his wit, like the sun,
Shines and sparkles along—that its bright sallies glide
Like a fresh summer river at flow of its tide?—
Why, join wit, sun, and tide, and it's perfectly clear
You mean jolly young Whitsuntide—Prince of the year!
MAY—Settling for the Derby—Long odds and long faces.