POEMS OLD AND NEW
And found myself outside the Hill,
Left alone against my will,
To go now limping as before,
And never hear of that country more ! "
Alas, alas for Hamelin !
There came into many a burgher's pate
A text which says that Heaven's Gate
Opes to the Rich at as easy rate
As the needle's eye takes a camel in !
The Mayor sent East, West, North, and South, 10
To offer the Piper, by word of mouth,
Wherever it was men's lot to find him,
Silver and gold to his heart's content,
If he'd only return the way he went,
And bring the children behind him.
But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavour,
And Piper and dancers were gone for ever,
They made a decree that lawyers never
Should think their records dated duly
If, after the day of the month and year, 20
These words did' not as well appear,
" And so long after what happened here
On the Twenty-second of Jtily,
Thirteen hundred and seventy-six " :
And the better in memory to fix
The place of the children's last retreat,
They called it, the Pied Piper's Street—
Where any one playing on pipe or tabor
Was sure for the future to lose his labour.
Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern 30
To shock with mirth a street so solemn ;
But opposite the place of the cavern
They wrote the story on a column,
And on the great Church-Window painted
The same to make the world acquainted
How their children were stolen away;