Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/237

Rh Twill be consigned to the next carrier's care, I cannot yield it all, be half thy share. Well does the gift thy liquorish palate suit; I know who robbed the orchard of its fruit. When all were wrapt in sleep, one early morn, While yet the dewdrop trembled on the thorn, I marked when o'er the quickset hedge you leapt, And, sly, beneath the gooseberry bushes crept ; Then shook the trees ; a shower of apples fell,— And where the hoard you kept I know full well; The mellow gooseberries did themselves produce, For through thy pocket oozed the viscous juice. I scorn a telltale, or I could declare How, leave unasked, you sought the neighbouring fair; Then home by moonlight spurred your jaded steed, And scarce returned before the hour of bed.