THE SONGS OF " ROOKWOOD." 65 



Then toss off your glasses to all girls of spirit, 



Ne'er with names, or with number, your memories vex ; 



Our toast, boys, embraces each woman of merit, 



And for fear of omission we'll toast the WHOLE SEX !" 



Often as it has been quoted, nay, indeed, printed in the play-bills 

 of Astley's (and that most incorrectly), we must give Turpin's affec- 

 tionate eulogy of his mare after such praise, how could he ride her 

 to the death ? 



" BLACK BESS. 



" Let the lover his mistress's beauty rehearse, 

 And laud her attractions in languishing verse ; 

 Be it mine in rude strains, but with truth to express, 

 The love that I bear to my bonny Black Bess. 



" From the west was her dam, from the east was her sire, 

 From the one came her swiftness, the other her fire ; 

 No peer of the realm better blood can possess, 

 Than flows in the veins of my bonny Black Bess. 



" Look ! look ! how that eyeball glows bright as a brand ! 

 That neck proudly arches, those nostrils expand ! 

 Mark ! that wide-flowing mane ! of which each silky tress 

 Might adorn prouder beauties though none like Black Bess. 



se Mark ! that skin sleek as velvet, and dusky as night, 

 With its jet undisfigured by one lock of white ; 

 That throat branched with veins, prompt to charge or caress, 

 Now is she not beautiful bonny Black Bess ? 



" Over highway and byeway, in rough and smooth weather, 

 Some thousands of miles have we journied together : 

 Our couch the same straw, and our meal the same mess, 

 No couple more constant than I and Black Bess. 



" By moonlight, in darkness, by night, or by day, 

 Her headlong career there is nothing can stay. 

 She cares not for distance she knows not distress 

 Can you show me a courser to match with Black Bess ? 



"Once it happened in Cheshire, near Dunham, I popped 

 On a horseman alone, whom I speedily stopped ; 

 That I lightened his pockets you'll readily guess 

 Quick work makes Dick Turpin when mounted on Bess. 



" Now it seems the man knew me ; ' Dick Turpin,' said he, 

 ' You shall swing for this job, as you live d'ye see ;' 

 I laughed at his threats and his vows of redress, 

 I was sure of an alibi then with Black Bess. 



" The road was a hollow, a sunken ravine,* 

 Overshadowed completely by wood like a screen ; 

 I clambered the bank, and I needs must confess 

 That one touch of the spur grazed the side of Black Bess. 



" * The exact spot where Turpin committed this well-known robbery, and 

 which has often been pointed out to us, lies in what is now a woody hollow, 

 M.M. No. 103. K 



