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<h4>THE POACHER.</h4>
<h5>
A SERIOUS BALLAD.
</h5>
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But a bold pheasantry, their country's pride
<br/>
When once destroyed can never be supplied.
<br/><p class="citation">
GOLDSMITH.</p>
<br/><br/>
Bill Blossom was a nice young man,
<br/>
And drove the Bury coach;
<br/>
But bad companions were his bane,
<br/>
And egg'd him on to poach.
<br/>
They taught him how to net the birds,
<br/>
And how to noose the hare;
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And with a wiry terrier,
<br/>
He often set a snare.
<br/>
Each "shiny night" the moon was bright,
<br/>
To park, preserve, and wood
<br/>
He went, and kept the game alive,
<br/>
By killing all he could.
<br/>
Land-owners, who had rabbits, swore
<br/>
That he had this demerit—
<br/>
Give him an inch of warren, he
<br/>
Would take a yard of ferret.
<br/>
At partridges he was not nice;
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And many, large and small,
<br/>
Without Hall's powder, without lead,
<br/>
Were sent to Leaden Hall.
<br/>
He did not fear to take a deer
<br/>
From forest, park, or lawn;
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And without courting lord or duke,
<br/>
Used frequently to <i>fawn</i>.
<br/>
Folks who had hares discovered snares—
<br/>
His course they could not stop:
<br/>
No barber he, and yet he made
<br/>
Their hares a perfect crop.
<br/>
To pheasant he was such a foe,
<br/>
He tried the keepers' nerves;
<br/>
They swore he never seem'd to have
<br/>
<i>Jam</i> satis of <i>preserves</i>.
<br/>
The Shooter went to beat, and found
<br/>
No sporting worth a pin,
<br/>
Unless he tried the <i>covers</i> made
<br/>
Of silver, plate, or tin.
<br/>
In Kent the game was little worth,
<br/>
In Surrey not a button;
<br/>
The Speaker said he often tried
<br/>
The <i>Manors</i> about <i>Button</i>.
<br/>
No county from his tricks was safe;
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In each he tried his lucks,
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And when the keepers were in <i>Beds</i>,
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He often was at <i>Bucks</i>.
<br/>
And when he went to <i>Bucks</i>, alas!
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They always came to <i>Herts</i>;
<br/>
And even <i>Oxon</i> used to wish
<br/>
That he had his deserts.
<br/>
But going to his usual <i>Hants</i>,
<br/>
Old <i>Cheshire</i> laid his plots:
<br/>
He got entrapp'd by legal <i>Berks</i>,
<br/>
And lost his life in <i>Notts</i>.
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