Said John, “It is my wedding-day,
        And all the world would stare
    If wife should dine at Edmonton,
        And I should dine at Ware.”

    So turning to his horse, he said
        “I am in haste to dine;
    ’Twas for your pleasure you came here,
        You shall go back for mine.”

    Ah! luckless speech, and bootless boast! 
        For which he paid full dear;
    For while he spake, a braying ass
        Did sing most loud and clear;

    Whereat his horse did snort, as he
        Had heard a lion roar,
    And galloped off with all his might,
        As he had done before.

    [Illustration]

    Away went Gilpin, and away
      Went Gilpin’s hat and wig;
    He lost them sooner than at first,
      For why?—­they were too big.

    [Illustration]

    Now Mistress Gilpin, when she saw
      Her husband posting down
    Into the country far away,
      She pulled out half-a-crown;

    And thus unto the youth she said
      That drove them to the “Bell,”
    “This shall be yours when you bring back
      My husband safe and well.”

    [Illustration]

    The youth did ride, and soon did meet
        John coming back amain;
    Whom in a trice he tried to stop,
        By catching at his rein.

    But not performing what he meant,
        And gladly would have done,
    The frighted steed he frighted more,
        And made him faster run.

    Away went Gilpin, and away
      Went postboy at his heels,
    The postboy’s horse right glad to miss
      The lumbering of the wheels.

    [Illustration]

    Six gentlemen upon the road,
      Thus seeing Gilpin fly,
    With postboy scampering in the rear. 
      They raised the hue and cry.

    “Stop thief! stop thief! a highwayman!’”
        Not one of them was mute;
    And all and each that passed that way
        Did join in the pursuit.

    [Illustration]

    [Illustration]

    [Illustration]

    [Illustration]

    And now the turnpike-gates again
      Flew open in short space;
    The toll-man thinking, as before,
      That Gilpin rode a race.

    And so he did, and won it too,
      For he got first to town;
    Nor stopped till where he had got up,
      He did again get down.

    Now let us sing, Long live the King,
      And Gilpin, long live he;
    And when he next doth ride abroad. 
      May I be there to see.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Randolph Caldecott’s

Picture Books

“The humour of Randolph Caldecott’s drawings is simply irresistible, no healthy-minded man, woman, or child could look at them without laughing.”