Thou know'st whate'er I see, read, learn, 

 Relating to thy species, friend, 



I tell thee, hoping it may turn 

 To thine advantage — so attend, 



My good old Ranger ! while I tell 



A true and mournful history, 

 How in past time it once befell 



A little faithful dog like thee. 



'Twas in a neighbouring land : what time 

 The Reign of Terror triumphed there : 



And every horrid shape of crime, 



Stalked out from murder's bloody lair : 



And every fair and stately town 



Became a slaughter-house and grave, 



Where fell proscription hunted down 

 The good, the loyal, and the brave : 



'Twas in those dreadful times there dwelt 

 In Lyons, the defiled with blood, 



A loyal family, that felt 



The earliest fury of the flood. 



Wife, children, friends, it swept away 

 From wretched Valrive, one by one : 



Himself severely to stay 



Till everything he loved was gone. 



!5 l 



