Zoo I do hope to rub on pretty well
Till zummer time; an' then I be to cut
The wood an' do the trenchen by the tut.

CHILD.

An' nex' week, father, I'm a-gwain to goo
A-picken stwones, d'ye know, vor Farmer True.

WIFE.

An' little Jack, you know, 's a-gwain to eaern
A penny too, a-keepen birds off corn.

JOHN.

O brave! What wages do 'e meaen to gi'e?

WIFE.

She dreppence vor a day, an' twopence he.

JOHN.

Well, Polly; thou must work a little spracker
When thou bist out, or else thou wu'ten pick
A dungpot lwoad o' stwones up very quick.

CHILD.

Oh! yes I shall. But Jack do want a clacker:
An' father, wull ye teaeke an' cut
A stick or two to meaeke his hut.

JOHN.

You wench! why you be always up a-baggen.
I be too tired now to-night, I'm sure,
To zet a-doen any mwore:
Zoo I shall goo up out o' the way o' the waggon.

[Gothic: Eclogue.]

A GHOST.

_Jem an' Dick._

JEM.

This is a darkish evenen; b'ye a-feaerd
O' zights? Theaese leaene's a-haunted, I've a heaerd.

DICK.

No, I be'nt much a-feaer'd. If vo'k don't strive
To over-reach me while they be alive,
I don't much think the dead wull ha' the will
To come back here to do me any ill.
An' I've a-been about all night, d'ye know,
Vrom candle-lighten till the cock did crow;
But never met wi' nothen bad enough
To be much wo'se than what I be myzuf;
Though I, lik' others, have a-heaerd vo'k zay
The girt house is a-haunted, night an' day.

JEM.

Aye; I do mind woone winter 'twer a-zaid
The farmer's vo'k could hardly sleep a-bed,
They heaerd at night such scuffens an' such jumpens,
Such ugly naises an' such rottlen thumpens.

DICK.

Aye, I do mind I heaerd his son, young Sammy,
Tell how the chairs did dance an' doors did slammy;
He stood to it--though zome vo'k woulden heed en--
He didden only hear the ghost, but zeed en;
An', hang me! if I han't a'most a-shook,
To hear en tell what ugly sheaepes it took.
Did zometimes come vull six veet high, or higher,
In white, he zaid, wi' eyes lik' coals o' vier;
An' zometimes, wi' a feaece so peaele as milk,
A smileless leaedy, all a-deck'd in silk.
His heaeir, he zaid, did use to stand upright,
So stiff's a bunch o' rushes, wi' his fright.

JEM.

An' then you know that zome'hat is a-zeed
Down there in leaene, an' over in the meaed,
A-comen zometimes