BUSH BALLADS AND GALLOP- 

 ING RHYMES HOW 

 WE BEAT THE FAVOURITE 



A LAY OF THE LOAMSHIRE HUNT CUP 



"Aye, squire," said Stevens, '' they back him 

 at evens ; 

 The race is all over, bar shouting, they say ; 

 The Clown ought to beat her ; Dick Neville 

 is sweeter 

 Than ever — he swears he can win all the way. 



*' A gentleman rider — well, I'm an outsider, 



But if he's a gent who the mischief's a jock ? 

 You swells mostly blunder, Dick rides for the 

 plunder. 

 He rides, too, like thunder — he sits like a 

 rock. 



*' He calls 'hunted fairly' a horse that has 

 barely 

 Been stripp'd for a trot within sight of the 

 hounds, 

 A horse that at Warwick beat Birdlime and 

 Yorick, 

 And gave Abdelkader at Aintree nine 



pounds. 



207 



