To quit the pursuit, and be quietly seated.
But all wou’d not do; so, by way of excuse,
They pleaded a visit to good Mother Goose;
[p26] Who near, on a common, en passant, they saw,
And had heard she had lately come out of the straw.
But the Goose of their tale not a word understood,
And still cackled away to her terrified brood;
While immers’d in a pond, to complete their ill luck,
Topsy-turvy appear’d, at a distance, the Duck!
What now cou’d they do? why, they both persever’d,