Over the Green, and along by the George- A noise, indeed, so loud and long, And mix'd with expressions so very strong, With her Trumpet up to her organ of hearing, Oh! then arises the fearful shout Bawl'd and scream'd, and bandied about— "Now silence-silence-one and all!" For the Clerk is quoting from Holy Paul! A couple of verses, The Beadle lets the Trumpet fall; For instead of the words so pious and humble, He hears a supernatural grumble. Enough, enough! and more than enough ;- Are clutching the Witch wherever they can, Away! away! down the dusty lane They pull her, and haul her, with might and main : And happy the hawbuck, Tom or Harry Dandy, or Sandy, Jerry, or Larry, Who happens to get " a leg to carry!" And happy the foot that can give her a kick, And happy the Boy who can lend her a lick ;— Who can shy very nigh to her wicked old head! Alas! to think how people's creeds But though the wishes that Witches utter Send styes in the eye-and measle the pigs- Though in common belief a Witch's curse No Bumpkin makes a poke the less At the back or ribs of old Eleanor S.! As if she were only a sack of barley; Or gives her credit for greater might Than the Powers of Darkness confer at night On that other old woman, the parish Charley; Ay, now's the time for a Witch to call Vinegar Tom and the rest of the pack- And drive her foes from their savage job And now they come to the water's brim- With twenty sticks to hold her down; With a token only revealed to her; A token that makes her shudder and shriek, And point with her finger, and strive to speak— But before she can utter the name of the Devil, Her head is under the water level! Moral. There are folks about town-to name no namesWho much resemble that deafest of Dames; And over their tea, and muffins, and crumpets, Circulate many a scandalous word, And whisper tales they could only have heard NOTE. THE following curious passage is quoted for the benefit of such Readers as are afflicted, like Dame Spearing, with Deafness, and one of its concomitants, a singing or ringing in the head. The extract is taken from "Quid pro Quo; or, A Theory of Compensations. By P. S." (perhaps Peter Shard), folio edition: "Soe tenderly kind and gratious is Nature, our Mother, that She seldom or never puts upon us any Grievaunce without making Us some Amends, which, if not a full and perfect Equivalent, is yet a great Solace or Salve to the Sore. As is notably displaid in the Case of such of our Fellow Creatures as undergoe the Loss of Heering, and are thereby deprived of the Comfort and Entertainment of Natural Sounds. In lew, whereof the Deaf Man, as testified by mine own Experience, is regaled with an inward Musick that is not vouchsafed unto a Person who hath the compleet Usage of his Ears. For note, that the selfsame Condition of Boddy which is most apt to bring on a Surdity,—namely, a general Relaxing of the delicate and subtile Fibres of the Human Nerves, and mainly such as belong and propinque to the Auricular Organ, this very Unbracing which silences the Tympanum, or drum, is the most instrumental Cause in producing a Consort in the Head. And, in particular, that affection which the Physitians have called Tinnitus, by reason of its Resemblance to a Ring of Bells. The Absence of which, as a National Musick, would be a sore Loss and Discomfort to any Native of the Low Countryes, where the Steeples and Church-Towers with their Carillons maintain an allmost endlesse Tingle; seeing that before one quarterly Chime of the Cloke hath well ended, another must by Time's Command strike up its Tune. On which Account, together with its manye waterish Swamps and |