rly Gallop._

"At five on a dewy morning,
Before the blaze of day,
To be up and off on a high-mettled horse,
All care and danger scorning,
Over the hills away,--
To drink the rich sweet breath of the gorse,
And bathe in the breeze of the downs.--
Ha! man, if you can,--match bliss like this
In all the joys of towns!

"With glad and grateful tongue to join
The lark at his matin hymn,
And thence on faith's own wing to spring
And sing with cherubim!
To pray from a deep and tender heart
With all things praying anew,
The birds and the bees and the whispering trees,
And heather bedropt with dew.--
To be one with those early worshippers,
And pour the carol too!

"Then off again with a slackened rein
And a bounding heart within,
To dash at a gallop over the plain
Health's golden cup to win!
This, this is the race for gain and grace,
Richer than vases and crowns;
And you that boast your pleasures the most
Amid the steam of towns,
Come taste true bliss in a morning like this,
Galloping over the downs!"

Among the most notable prose pieces (though it is of little use to refer
my readers to a book hopelessly out of print) there may be selected my
panacea for Ireland, to wit, a Royal Residence there to evoke the
loyalty of a warm-hearted people,--I called my fable "The Unsunned
Corner:" I mean to quote some of it in a future political page of this
book. Also other papers, as "Bits of Ribbon," suggesting as just and
wise the more profuse distribution of honours,--in particular
recommending an Alfred or an Albert Order. Also, many of my Rifle
ballads,--whereof, more anon. And "The Over-sharpened Axe"--applicable
to modern Boardschool Educationals: and Colonel Jade's matrimonial
tirades, all real life: and "The Grumbling Gimlet," a fable on Content,
&c. &c. With plenty more notabilia--which those who have the book can
turn to if they will.

I could fill many pages with the critiques _pro_ and _con_ this queer
book has provoked, but it is useless now that the world has let it die.

CHAPTER XVII.

STEPHAN LANGTON--ALFRED.

I wrote "Stephan Langton, a Story of the Time of King John," because,
1st, I had little to do in the country; 2dly, I wished to give some
special literary lift to Albury and its neighbourhood, more particularly
as my story