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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=457132" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Down-Hall. A Ballad.</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Tune. - 'King John and the Abbot of Canterbury.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>I sing not old Jason who travell'd through Greece<br>To kiss the fair maids and possess the rich fleece,<br>Nor sing I AEneas, who, led by his mother,<br>Got rid of one wife and went far for another.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Nor him who through Asia and Europe did roam,<br>Ulysses by name, who ne'er cared to go home,<br>But rather desired to see cities and men<br>Than return to his farms and converse with old Pen.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Hang Homer and Virgil; their meaning to seek,<br>A man must have poked into Latin and Greek;<br>Those who love their own tongue we have reason to hope,<br>Have read them translated by Dryden and Pope.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>But I sing of exploits that have lately been done<br>By two British heroes call'd Matthew and John,<br>And how they rid friendly from fine London town,<br>Fair Essex to see, and a place they call Down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Now ere they went out, you may rightly suppose<br>How much they discoursed both in prudence and prose:<br>For before this great journey was thoroughly concerted,<br>Full often they met, and as often they parted. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>And thus Matthew said, look you here my friend John,<br>I fairly have travell'd years thirty and one,<br>And though I still carried my Sovereign's warrants,<br>I only have gone upon other folks errands.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>And now in this journey of life I would have <br>A place where to bait 'twixt the court and the grave,<br>Where joyful to live, not unwilling to die - <br>Gadzooks, I had just a place in my eye.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>There are gardens so stately, and arbours so thick,<br>A portal of stone, and a fabric of brick;<br>The matter next week shall be all in your power;<br>But the money, Gadzooks, must be paid in an hour.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>For things in this world must by law be made certain;<br>We both must repair unto Oliver Martin,<br>For he is a lawyer of worthy renown, <br>I'll bring you to see he must fix you at Down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Quoth Matthew, I know that from Berwick to Dover<br>You've sold all our premises over and over;<br>And now if your buyers and sellers agree<br>You may throw all our acres into the South-sea.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>But a word to the purpose; to-morrow, dear friend,<br>We'll sea what to-night you so highly commend,<br>And if with a garden and house I am bless'd,<br>Let the devil and Coningsby go with the rest.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Then answer'd Squire Morley, pray get a calash,<br>That in summer may burn, in winter may splash;<br>I love dirt and dust; and 'tis always my pleasure<br>To take with me much of the soil that I measure.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>But Matthew thought better, for Matthew thought right,<br>And hired a chariot so trim and so tight,<br>That extremes both of winter and summer might pass,<br>For one window was canvas, the other was glass.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Draw up, quoth friend Matthew; pull down, quoth friend John,<br>We shall be both hotter and colder anon:<br>Thus talking and scolding they forward did speed,<br>And Ralpho paced by under Newman the Swede.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Into an old inn did this equipage roll,<br>At a town they call Hodsdon, the sign of the Bull,<br>Near a nymph with an urn, that divides the highway,<br>And into a puddle throws mother of tea.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Come here, my sweet landlady, pray, how d'ye do?<br>Where is Cicily so cleanly, and Prudence, and Sue?<br>And where is the widow that dwelt here below?<br>And the ostler that sung about eight years ago?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>And where is your sister, so mild and so dear?<br>Whose voice to her maids like a trumpet was clear.<br>By my troth, she replies, you grow younger I think;<br>And pray, Sir, what wine does the gentleman drink?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Why now let me die, Sir, or live upon trust,<br>If I know to which question to answer you first:<br>Why things since I saw you most strangely have varied?<br>The ostler is hang'd, and the widow is married.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>And Prue left a child for the parish to nurse,<br>And Cicily went off with a gentleman's purse;<br>And as to my sister, so mild and so dear,<br>She has lain in the churchyard full many a year.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Well, peace to her ashes; what signifies grief?<br>She roasted red veal, and she powder'd lean beef;<br>Full nicely she knew to cook up a fine dish,<br>For tough were her pullets and tender her fish.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>For that matter, Sir, be ye 'squire, knight, or lord,<br>I'll give you whate'er a good inn can afford:<br>I should look on myself as unhappily sped <br>Did I yield a sister or living or dead. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Of mutton a delicate neck and a breast, <br>Shall swim in the water in which they were dress'd;<br>And because you great folks are with rarities taken,<br>Addle-eggs shall be next course, tost up with rank bacon.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Then supper was served, and the sheets they were laid,<br>And Morley most lovingly whisper'd the maid.<br>The maid! was she handsome? why, truly so so; <br>But what Morley whisper'd we never shall know,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Then up rose these heroes as brisk as the sun,<br>And their horses, like his, were prepared to run:<br>Now when in the morning Matt ask'd for the score,<br>John kindly had paid it the evening before.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Their breakfast so warm, to be sure they did eat,<br>A custom in travellers mighty discreet:<br>And thus with great friendship and glee they went on<br>To find out the place you shall hear of anon,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Called Down, Down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>But what did they talk of from morning till noon?<br>Why, of spots in the sun, and the man in the moon;<br>Of the Czar's gentle temper, the stocks in the city,<br>The wise men of Greece, and the secret Committee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>So to Harlow they came; and hey, where are you all?<br>Show us into the parlour, and mind when I call:<br>Why, your maids have no motion, your men have no life:<br>Well Master, I hear you have buried your wife,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Come this very instant, take care to provide<br>Tea, sugar, and toast, and a hoarse and a guide.<br>Are the Harrisons here, both the old and the young?<br>And where stands fair Down, the delight of my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>O 'squire, to the grief of my heart I may say<br>I have buried two wives since you travell'd this way;<br>And the Harrisons both may be presently here;<br>And Down stands, I think, where it stood the last year.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Then Joan brought the tea-pot, and Caleb the toast,<br>And the wine was frothed out by the hand of mine host;<br>But we clear'd our extempore banquet so fast,<br>That the Harrisons both were forgot in the haste.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Now hey or Down-Hall; for the guide he was got;<br>The chariot was mounted, the horses did trot;<br>The guide he did bring us a dozen miles round;<br>But, oh! all in vain, for no Down could be found.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>O thou Popish guide, thou hast led us astray,<br>Says he, How the devil should I know the way?<br>I never yet travell'd this road in my life;<br>But Down lies on the left I was told by my wife.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Thy wife, answer'd Matthew, when she went abroad,<br>Ne'er told thee of half the by-ways she had trod;<br>Perhaps she met friends, and brought pence to thy house,<br>But thou shalt go home without ever a sous. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>What is this thing, Morley, and how can you mean it?<br>We have lost our estate here before we have seen it;<br>Have patience, soft Morley in anger replied;<br>To find out our way let us send off our guide.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>O here I spy Down: cast your eye to the west,<br>Where a windmill so stately stands plainly confess'd.<br>On the west! replied Matthew, no windmill I find;<br>As well thou may'st tell me I see the west wind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Now pardon me, Morley, the windmill I spy,<br>But faithful Achates, no house is there nigh:<br>Look again, says mild Morley, Gadzooks, you are blind;<br>The mill stands before and the house lies behind,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>O now a low ruin'd white shed I discern,<br>Untiled and unglazed, I believe 'tis a barn.<br>A barn! why you have rave; 'tis a house for a 'squire, <br>A justice of peace, or a knight of our shire.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>A house should be built or with brick or with stone,<br>Why, 'tis plaster and lath, and I think that's all one;<br>And such as it is it has stood with great fame,<br>Been called a Hall, and has given its name,<br>To Down, Down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O Morley, O Morley, if that be a hall,<br>The same with a building will suddenly fall -<br>With your friend Jemmy Gibbs about buildings agree,<br>My business is land, and it matters not me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>I wish you could tell what a deuce your head ails;<br>I show'd you Down-Hall, did you look for Versailles?<br>Then take house and farm as John Ballet will let ye,<br>For better for worse, as I took my dame Betty.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>And now, Sir, a word to the wise is enough;<br>You'll make very little of all your old stuff;<br>And to build at your age, by my troth, you grow simple,<br>Are you young and rich, like the master of Wimple?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>If you have these whims of apartments and gardens,<br>From twice fifty acres you'll ne'er see five farthings;<br>And in your's I shall find the true gentleman's fate,<br>Ere you finish your house you'll have spent your estate.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Now let us touch thumb, and be friends ere we part,<br>Here, John, is my thumb, and here, Mat, is heart;<br>To Halstead I speed, and you go back to town;<br>Thus ends the first part of the ballad of Down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Derry down, down, hey derry down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Matthew+Prior">Matthew Prior</a><div class=q>
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I sing not old Jason who travell'd through Greece
To kiss the fair maids and possess the rich fleece,
Nor sing I AEneas, who, led by his mother,
Got rid of one wife and went far for another.

Derr..."></div>
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