Though felony, yet who would let
Another's horse alone,

Whose neck is placed in jeopardy
By riding on his own?

And yet the conduct of the man
Seemed honest-like and fair;
For he seemed willing, horse and all,
To go before the mare!

So up on Huggins' horse he got,
And swiftly rode away,

While Huggins mounted on the mare
Done brown upon a bay!

And off they set in double chase,
For such was fortune's whim,
The farmer rode to hunt the stag,
And Huggins hunted him!

Alas! with one that rode so well
In vain it was to strive;
A dab was he, as dabs should be-
All leaping and alive!

And here of Nature's kindly care

Behold a curious proof,

As nags are meant to leap, she puts
A frog in every hoof!

Whereas the mare, although her share

She had of hoof and frog,

On coming to a gate stopped short

As stiff as any log;

While Huggins in the stirrup stood
With neck like neck of crane,
As sings the Scottish song-" to see
The gate his hart had gane.”

And, lo! the dim and distant hunt
Diminished in a trice:

The steeds, like Cinderella's team,
Seemed dwindling into mice;

And, far remote, each scarlet coat
Soon flitted like a spark-

Though still the forest murmured back

An echo of the bark!

While thus the "Hunting Chorus" sped,

To stay five bars behind.

For though by dint of spur he got

A leap in spite of fateHowbeit there was no toll at all

They could not clear the gate.

And, like Fitzjames, he cursed the hunt,
And sorely cursed the day,
And mused a new Gray's elegy
On his departed gray.

Now many a sign at Woodford town

Its Inn-vitation tells :

But Huggins, full of ills, of course

Betook him to the Wells,

Where Rounding tried to cheer him up With many a merry laugh :

But Huggins thought of neighbour Fig, And called for half-and-half.

Yet, spite of drink, he could not blink
Remembrance of his loss;
To drown a care like his, required
Enough to drown a horse.

When thus forlorn, a merry horn
Struck up without the door-

The mounted mob were all returned;
The Epping Hunt was o'er!

And many a horse was taken out
Of saddle, and of shaft ;

And men, by dint of drink, became
The only "beasts of draught."

For now begun a harder run

On wine, and gin, and beer ;

And overtaken men discussed

The overtaken deer.

How far he ran, and eke how fast,
And how at bay he stood,
Deerlike, resolved to sell his life

As dearly as he could :—

And how the hunters stood aloof,

Regardful of their lives,

And shunned a beast, whose very horns

They knew could handle knives!