112 The Poets Beasts. 



the property of man. It runs off with a cock, and lo ! the 

 chorus of the poets ! — 



" They crieden out, harow and wala wa ! 

 A ha the fox ! and after him they ran 

 And eke with staves many another man 

 Ran Colle our dogge, and Talbot and Gerlond, 

 And Malkin with hire distaf in hire hond, 

 Ran cow and calf, and eke the veray hogges 

 So fered were for berking of the dogges, 

 And shouting of the men and women eke, 

 They ronnen so, hem thought hir hertes breke. 

 They yelleden as fendes don in helle ; 

 The dokes crieden as men wold hem quelle, 

 The gees for fere flewen over the trees. 

 Out of the hive came the swarme of bees. 

 So hideous was the noise, a benedicite ! 

 Certes be Jakke Straw, and his meinie, 

 Ne maden never shoutes half so shrille, 

 Whan that they wolden any Fleming kille, 

 As thilke day was made upon the fox. 

 Of bras they broughten beemes and of box, 

 Of horn and bone, in which they blew and pouped, 

 And therwithal they shriked and they houped : 

 ^U seem'd as that the heven shulde fall ! " 



V It u^ |^;i : "green ruins" and "gaping tombs," "looks 



,"'•'. , windows of the desolate dweUing of Moira," 

 from the wemJ .u • Ui. • u i u *. tu 



jr the night in caves where none else but the 

 from another - r?, • • ,v /• ^. ■, 



ouses. This gives the fox the necessary degree 



ty." But as the " subtle pilfering fox," " the 



Son,tal foe," it has often to be found less remote 



"^"'^ bitations of men and chickens. It is most 



r,,,- • •. therefore, as a farmyard prowler, as a hen- 



1 his is permi . . ,. •„■•.. u 



^, ,  metimes, as in Somerville, it seizes " the poor 



that its gnoL ' ' y  x. 



J lamb, whose sweet warm blood supplies a rich 



, . , . . -y- in Pope, Dry den, Dyer, Grahame, prowls round 



,  c ^sking in the sun, the frisking lambs on the bank, 



the wind's ol c . 



, , °„ "to seize a straggling prey." And Piers tells 



1 't If 1 u^^"^^'^^"^ story of the false fox that comes in 



