beheld the drenched "fare" clinging to the stern.

"O! you partic'lar fool!" exclaimed the waterman. "Ay, hold on a-stern,
and the devil take the hindmost, say I!"




SCENE VIII.

In for it, or Trying the middle.


A little fat man
With rod, basket, and can,
And tackle complete,
Selected a seat
On the branch of a wide-spreading tree,
That stretch'd over a branch of the Lea:
There he silently sat,
Watching his float--like a tortoise-shell cat,
That hath scented a mouse,
In the nook of a room in a plentiful house.
But alack!
He hadn't sat long--when a crack
At his back
Made him turn round and pale--
And catch hold of his tail!
But oh! 'twas in vain
That he tried to regain