1827.] Pyramus and Thisbe. 237 



No solace now my wretched bosom knows, 

 Save love and liquor, to destroy my woes ; 

 And but for Thiz, my truest love and friend, 

 My life, alas! would soon wax to an end. 

 Hush ! sure I thought I heard her gentle pat 

 Against the wall. Ah ! no it was a rat ! 

 No it is she. What! Thizzy, little dear ! 

 What kept you, love, so long from coming here ? 



Thisbe. I should have come, dear Pyrry, long before; 

 But mother made me stop and scour the floor. 



Pyr. See, darling, what a pretty hole I've made 

 Through the rough wall! you needn't be afraid. 

 Peep-o, my pretty dear ! Law, I can see 

 Your twinkling eye that looks so sweet at me! 

 And now, my dearest, doating, darling Thiz, 

 Do blow me, through the wall, a little kiss. [She blows. 



Laws, Thizzy ! you have took me by surprise, 

 And blown a lot of brick -dust in my eyes! 

 Why do I slop here, pent up in the house, 

 And make love through a hole, like any mouse ? 

 Straight from our hated parents let us fly, 

 And meet each other in the wood hard by : 

 There I will join you 'neath the forest's shade, 

 Where Ninny's tomb is seen amid the glade. 



Thisbe. Nay, Pyrry, don't go there ; they say each night 

 Poor Ninny's ghost stalks in the pale moonlight. 

 You know his story, and you best can tell 

 How by his hand the wretched lover fell. 

 So say for why his spirit cannot rest ; 

 You knows that naughty men tell stories best. 



Pyr. Poor Ninny once did woo a tender maid, 

 Who love, 'twas said, with equal love repaid; 

 But then her father thought his feelings trash, 

 And called on Ninny to fork out the cash. 

 Now all the blunt he had beneath the sun 

 Amounted to the sum of one-pound-one. 

 With this to raise the wish'd-for dower he tried, 

 And to a lottery-office quickly hied. 

 But when a blank rewarded all his pains, 

 He took a pistol and blowed out his brains : 

 So thus he lost his love and lost his guinea ; 

 And there he lies entombed. 



Thisbe. Alas poor Ninny ! 



Pyr. But of this ghost you need have no alarm, 

 For Ninny living could do no one harm. 



Thisbe. Well, at his tomb we'll meet at twelve o'clock, 

 And I of victuals will lay in a stock. 

 Don't cry, dear Pyrry ! we shall meet again; 

 Til blow a parting kiss to ease your pain. 



Pyr. Laws, Thizzy, it is pain that makes me cry, 

 With all that brick-dust what's got in my eye. 



Thisbe. Oh! if its all your eye, dear, never mind ; 

 I've heard folks say as Love is always blind. 



Pyr. I'm blind enough at present, never doubt; 

 But father aint, and p'rhaps he'll find us out. 



[begins to funk. 



Thisbe. Nay, don't be 'fear'd such terrors are but stuff j 

 To-morrow we'll be found out, sure enough. 



Pyr. Let's stop the hole up I made in the wall, 

 And then he'll not suspect the thing at all. 



Thisbe. Stop ! sure I heard a noise upon the stairs. 

 Hush ! 'tis your father's voice. Laws, how he swears ! 



