HARD-RIDING DICK 



II 

 Dick, wasting no time o'er the classical page, 

 Spent his youth in the stable without any wage ; 

 The life of poor Dick, when he entered his teens, 

 Was to sleep in the hay-loft and breakfast on beans. 



Ill 



Promoted at length, Dick's adventures began : — 

 A stripling on foot, but when mounted a man ; 

 Capp'd, booted, and spurr'd, his young soul was on 



fire. 

 The day he was dubb'd "Second Whip" to the Squire. 



IV 



See, how Dick, like a dart, shoots a-head of the pack ; 

 How he stops, turns, and twists, rates, and rattles 



them back ! 

 The laggard exciting, controlling the rash. 

 He can comb down a hair with the point of his lash. 



V 



O ! show me that country which Dick cannot cross — 

 Be it open or wood, be it upland or moss, 

 Through the fog or the sunshine, the calm or the 



squall. 

 By day-light or star-light, or no light at all ! 



VI 



Like a swallow can Dick o'er the water-flood skim. 

 And Dick, like a duck, in the saddle can swim ; 

 Up the steep mountain-side like a cat he can crawl. 

 He can squeeze like a mouse through a hole in the 

 wall! 



Q 121 



