'ren men;
An' many leaeb'ren men, wi' empty hands,
Do live lik' drones upon the worker's lands.

ROBERT.

Aye, if a young chap, woonce, had any wit
To try an' scrape together zome vew pound,
To buy some cows an' teaeke a bit o' ground,
He mid become a farmer, bit by bit.
But, hang it! now the farms be all so big,
An' bits o' groun' so skeae'ce, woone got no scope;
If woone could seaeve a poun', woone couldden hope
To keep noo live stock but a little pig.

THOMAS.

Why here wer vourteen men, zome years agoo,
A-kept a-drashen half the winter drough;
An' now, woone's drashels be'n't a bit o' good.
They got machines to drashy wi', plague teaeke em!
An' he that vu'st vound out the way to meaeke em,
I'd drash his busy zides vor'n if I could!
Avore they took away our work, they ought
To meaeke us up the bread our leaebour bought.

ROBERT.

They hadden need meaeke poor men's leaebour less,
Vor work a'ready is uncommon skeae'ce.

THOMAS.

Ah! Robert! times be badish vor the poor;
An' worse will come, I be a-fear'd, if Moore
In theaese year's almanick do tell us right.

ROBERT.

Why then we sartainly must starve. Good night!

WINTER

THE VROST.

Come, run up hwome wi' us to night,
Athirt the vield a-vroze so white,
Where vrosty sheaedes do lie below
The winter ricks a-tipp'd wi' snow,
An' lively birds, wi' waggen tails,
Do hop upon the icy rails,
An' rime do whiten all the tops
O' bush an' tree in hedge an' copse,
In wind's a-cutten keen.

Come, maidens, come: the groun's a-vroze
Too hard to-night to spweil your clothes.
You got noo pools to waddle drough,
Nor clay a-pullen off your shoe:
An' we can trig ye at the zide,
To keep ye up if you do slide:
Zoo while there's neither wet nor mud,
'S the time to run an' warm your blood,
In winds a-cutten keen.

Vor young men's hearts an' maiden's eyes
Don't vreeze below the cwoldest skies,
While they in twice so keen a blast
Can wag their brisk lim's twice so vast!
Though vier-light, a-flick'ren red
Drough vrosty window-peaenes, do spread
Vrom wall to wall, vrom he'th to door,
Vor us to goo an' zit avore,
Vrom winds a-cutten keen.

A BIT O' FUN.

We thought you woulden leaeve us quite
So soon as what you did last night;
Our fun jist got up to a height
As you about got hwome.
The frisken chaps did