Composed 1800.--Published 1800
Andrew Jones was included in the "Lyrical Ballads" of 1800, 1802,1805, and in the Poems of 1815. It was also printed in The Morning Post, February 10, 1801. It was not republished after 1815. With this poem compare The Old Cumberland Beggar.--ED.
I hate that Andrew Jones; he'll breed
His children up to waste and pillage.I wish the press-gang or the drum
Would with its rattling music come,[341]
And sweep him from the village!
I said not this, because he loves
Through the long day to swear and tipple;
But for the poor dear sake of one
To whom a foul deed he had done,
A friendless man, a travelling cripple!
For this poor crawling helpless wretch
Some horseman who was passing by,[342]
A penny on the ground had thrown;
But the poor cripple was alone
And could not stoop--no help was nigh.
Inch-thick the dust lay on the ground
For it had long been droughty weather;
So with his staff the cripple wrought
Among the dust till he had brought
The half-pennies together.
It chanced that Andrew passed that way
Just at the time; and there he found
The cripple in the mid-day heat
Standing alone, and at his feet
He saw the penny on the ground.
He stooped and took the penny up:[343]
And when the cripple nearer drew,
Quoth Andrew, "Under half-a-crown,
What a man finds is all his own,
And so, my friend, good-day to you."
And hence I said, that Andrew's boysWill all be trained to waste and pillage:
And wished the press-gang, or the drum
Would with its rattling music come,[344]
And sweep him from the village!
[341] 1815. With its tantara sound would come,
1800.
[342] It chanc'd some Traveller passing by,
MS.
[343] In the text of 1800, this line is, "He stopped and took the penny up," but in the list of errata, "stooped" is substituted for"stopped."--ED.
[344] 1815.
With its tantara sound would come
1800.
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THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)
PoetryThe Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. 8. Edited by William Knight