ii 4 MY LIFE 



soon became talkative, and as my brother asked him to take 

 more gin, he did so, and at last he became quite incoherent 

 and so troublesome, though perfectly good-natured, that we 

 had to ask the landlord to take charge of him till he was 

 able to go home. But his speech and actions were so ludicrous 

 that all present were kept in a roar of laughter, and every- 

 body seemed to think it an excellent and quite harmless bit 

 of fun. 



When I was alone at Barton I used frequently to sit in 

 the tap-room with the tradesmen and labourers for a little 

 conversation or to hear their songs or ballads, which I have 

 never had such an opportunity of hearing elsewhere. Some 

 of these were coarse, but not as a rule more so than among 

 men of a much higher class, while purely sentimental songs 

 or old ballads were very frequent, and were quite as much 

 appreciated. I regret that I did not write down all that I 

 heard here, but at that time I did not know that there would 

 be any purpose in doing so, and I cannot remember the actual 

 words of any of them. One that was occasionally sung was 

 the old Masonic Hymn, beginning: 



" Come all you freemasons that dwell around the globe, 

 That wear the badge of innocence, I mean the royal robe, 

 Which Noah he did wear when in the ark he stood, 

 When the world was destroyed by a deluging flood " — 



but I think it was never sung in its complete form. The 

 well-known poacher's song with its musical refrain : 



" Oh ! 'tis my delight of a shiny night, in the season of the year;" 



was also rather a favourite; but there was one ballad about 

 Bonaparte which was often called for, but of which I can 

 remember nothing but a line beginning — 



" Then up spoke young Napoleon." 



It was a really good ballad, describing some incidents in 

 Napoleon's early life, and was remarkable as treating him 



