*The ordinary conclusion of a gallows speech in Ireland,—“I die an unworthy member of the Church of Rome."-M. OD.

When Irish Secretary, Peel established the constabulary force, by which Ireland is governed, the members of it are familiarly called “Peelers." In 1829-'30, when Home Secretary, he organized the present excellent police of London. -M.

* This parody upon Béranger's "Roger Bontemps," to the air of "Ronde du camp de Grandpré," sung at The Noctes, was published in Blackwood for February, 1832.-M.

Backe and Side go Bare, go Bare.*

1.

BACKE and side go bare, go bare,

Both foot and hande go colde:

1.

SINT nuda dorsum, latera

Pes, manus, algens sit;

But, bellye, God sende thee good ale yenough, Dum ventri veteris copia

Whether it be newe or olde.

I cannot eat but lytle meate.

My stomacke is not good;

But sure I thinke that I can drynke
With him that wearęs a hood.
Though I go bare, take ye no care,

I am nothing a colde;

I stuff my skyn so full within,
Of jolly good ale and olde.
Backe and side go bare, go bare,

Both foote and hande go colde;

Zythi novive fit.

Non possum multum edere,
Quia stomachus est nullus;
Sed volo vel monacho bibere
Quanquam sit huic cucullus.
Et quamvis nudus ambulo,

De frigore non est metus;
Quia semper Zytho vetulo
Ventriculus est impletus.

Sint nuda dorsum, latera

Pes, manus, algens sit;

But, bellye, God sende thee good ale enoughe, Dum ventri veteris copia
Whether it be newe or olde.

2.

I love no rost, but a nut-browne toste,
And a crab laid in the fyre;

A little breade shall do me stead,

Much breade I not desyre.

No frost nor snow, nor winde, nor trowe,

Can hurt me if I wolde;

I am so wrapt, and throwly lapt,
Of jolly good ale and olde,
Backe and side go bare, &c.

3.

And Tyb, my wyfe, that, as her lyfe,
Loveth well good ale to seeke;
Full of drynkes shee, tyll ye may see
The teares run down her cheeke:

Zythi novive fit.

* This chant, (curiously rendered into Latin verse, in the exact measure of the original, with its single and double rhymes,) was sung by Odoherty, at The Noctes, and published in Blackwood, for July, 1822.-The original English ballad was written by John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who flourished in the reign of Elizabeth, and died in 1607. He is the reputed author of "Gammer Gurton's Needle," a dramatic piece of low humor, very characteristic of the manners of the English in that day. The chant, "Back and side go bare," is introduced into this drama.-M.

Then dowth she trowle to mee the boule,
Even as a mault-worme shuld;
And sayth, "Sweete hart, I took my parte
Of this jolly good ale and olde."

Backe and side go bare, &c.

4.

Et mihi tum dat cantharum,
Sic mores sunt bibosi;
Et dicit "Cor, en! impleor
Zythi dulcis et annosi."

Sint nuda, &c.

4.

Now let them drynke, till they nod and wynke, Nunc ebibant, donec nictant

Even as good felowes should doe:

They shall not mysse to have the blysse

Good ale doth bringe men to.

And all poore soules that have scrowr'd boules,

Or have them lustely trolde,

God save the lyves of them and their wyves,
Whether they be yonge or old.

Backe and syde go bare, &c.

Ut decet virum bonum; Felicitatis habebunt satis, Nam Zythi hoc est donum. Et omnes hi, qui canthari

Sunt haustibus lætati, Atque uxores vel juniores Vel senes, Diis sint grati. Sint nuda, &c.

At my Time of Way.*

AT my time o' day

It were proper, in truth,
If I could be less gay

Than your frolicsome youth,
And now,
old and gray

To plod on my way

Like a senior, in sooth.

I wish my old tricks

I could wholly forget;
But the apple here sticks,
Undigested as yet.

Let the good folks who will
With my plan disagree,
They may scold me their fill,

If I only am free

To retain in full glee
All my good humor still.

*This was sung at the Noctes, and published in Blackwood for September, 1825. North, (into whose mouth it was put,) said: "I shall give you a song written by Coulanges, when he was about eighty, and I heard it first sung by a man of the same age who heard Coulanges himself singing it a very short time before he died, which was in 1715, or perhaps 1716. I heard it perhaps sixty years after, if not more."-The original was sung by North, and the translation chanted, as improvised by Odoherty. — M.