Life, without fun, is like spring without sun--
So we'll _flash_ it away, and the devil may care!
Are but flying tokens to worldly fools lent,
As bright as e'er came from the Sassenach
"Well done!" said the piper--"Play up!" said
"My _golden character_ I'll always maintain!
And, compared with the schemers who rule and
We're real honest men and good _boys_ in the
And out of his mould he shook many a _shiner_,
In _roll'd_ the peelers and snaffled the coiner,
So there was an end to the piping and coining,
And a ruction was kick'd up, but no one was
"I'm done!" said the coiner--"Cheer up," said
"Fortune will favour the brave in the lane."
"We have you, at last!" cried the peelers,
"Tho' many a day we have chased you in vain!"
"Then," said Mannix, "your dungeons and jailors
May all be high hang'd--and farewell to the
Then off ran the coiner, and loud laughed the
As his friend disappear'd thro' night's darkness
Like a shaft from a quiver, he plung'd o'er the
And left the bold peelers befool'd in the lane.
"Will you rove the garden glades with me,
"Will you seek with me the dim church aisle,
* _Mo buchal baun_, my fair boy. ** _Cailin_, maiden.
I plunged my glittering, keen-edged blade
Till gushed her heart's blood, warm and red,
* _Mo store_, my treasure. ** _Mo vrone_, my grief.
*** _Cota_, the long frieze great-coat of the peasantry.
With dance and with song she has led them
(Dark was the sky with a glooming shower!)
"Haste to the faery who dwells by the sea;
And tryst at the Scar with the evening star--
He mounted his charger, and gallop'd away
The wind blew fresh and the foam ran high;
Till he came to the cave by the crisping wave
Where the billow lies calm and the breezes die.
There, over the sea-weed and over the shells
And the tufted glens and the heathery dells,
O'er cave and dale, in the twilight pale,
The knight grew faint as he ambled along,
And his heart beat high to the charmed song;
As he tript the pebbles and shells among.
And she waved to the Knight with her delicate
(Her tresses are dark as the tangle that lies
In the calm blue deep at the red sunrise,
And they never have rest on her beautiful
That heaves and falls as the melody sighs.)
The fickle Knight follow'd her pearl-white feet,
For his bosom was thrill'd with the roundel sweet;