134 THE WILLEY WHIPPER-IN. 



" I jog along tlie footpath way, 

 For a merry heart goes all the day ; . 

 But at night, whoever may flout and rail, 

 I sit down with my friend, the jug of ale. 

 With my good old friend, the jug of ale. 



" Whether the sweet or sour of the year, 

 I tramp and tramp though the gallows he near. 

 Oh, while I've a shilling I will not fail 

 To drown my cares in a jug of ale. 

 Drown my cares in a jug of ale ! " 



To wliich old Amen, as tlie parisli clerk was called, 

 in order to be orthodox, would add from the same 

 conyivial prelate's farce-comedy of " Gammer Gur- 

 ton's Needle : "— 



" I cannot eat hut little meat 

 My stomach is not good ; 

 But sure I think that I can drink 

 With him that wears a hood." 



A pleasant cheerful glass or two, Tom was wont 

 to say, would hurt nobody, and he could toss off 

 a horn or two of "October" without moving a 

 muscle or winking an eye. His constitution was as 

 sound as a roach ; and whilst he could get up early 

 and sniff the fragrant gale, they did not appear to 

 tell. But he had a spark in his throat, as he said, 

 and he indulged in such frequent libations to extin- 

 guish it, that, towards the end of the year 1796, he 



