stream we range_
_Nearer and nearer to that dread change_,
_When the body becomes so stark and cold_,
_And man doth crumble away to mould_.

_Boast not_, _proud maid_, _for the grave doth gape_,
_And strangely altered reflects thy shape_;
_No dainty charms it doth disclose_,
_Death will ravish thy beauty's rose_;
_And all the rest will leave to thee_
_When dug thy chilly grave shall be_.

_O_, _ye who are tripping the floor so light_,
_In delicate robes as the lily white_,
_Think of the fading funeral wreath_,
_The dying struggle_, _the sweat of death_--
_Think on the dismal death array_,
_When the pallid corse is consigned to clay_!

_O_, _ye who in quest of riches roam_,
_Reflect that ashes ye must become_;
_And the wealth ye win will brightly shine_
_When burried are ye and all your line_;
_For your many chests of much loved gold_
_You'll nothing obtain but a little mould_.

DESIDERABILIA VITAE. [_Give me the haunch of a buck to 13
eat_]

Previously printed, with a slightly different text, and
arranged in six lines instead of in three four-line
stanzas, in _Lavengro_, 1851, vol. i, p. 306.

SAINT JACOB. [_Saint Jacob he takes our blest Lord by 14
the hand_]

THE RENEGADE. [_Now pay ye the heed that is fitting_] 19

Previously printed, with some small differences of text,
in _The Talisman_, 1835, pp. 13-14.

AN IMPROMPTU. [_And darest thou thyself compare_] 21

A HYMN. [_O Jesus_, _Thou Fountain of solace and 23
gladness_]

THE TRANSFORMED DAMSEL. [_My father up of the country 25
rode_]

This Ballad should be compared with _The Cruel
Step-dame_, printed in _The Serpent Knight and Other
Ballade_, 1913, pp. 30-33. Also with _The Transformed
Damsel_, printed in _The Return of the Dead and Other
Ballads_, 1913, pp. 13-14. The actions described in the
earlier stanzas follow closely those of the opening
stanzas of _The Cruel Step-dame_; whilst the incident of
the lover cutting a piece of flesh from his own breast to
serve as bait to attract his mistress, who, in the form
of a bird, is perched upon a branch of the tree above
him, is common to both the _Transformed Damsel_ ballads.

_Note_.--Each poem to which no reference is attached appeared for the
first time in this volume.

There is a copy of _M