'look At The Clock!' : Patty Morgan The Milkmaid's Story Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Richard Harris Barham

'look At The Clock!' : Patty Morgan The Milkmaid's Story Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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FYTTE I	A
	-
'Look at the Clock ' quoth Winifred Pryce	B
As she open'd the door to her husband's knock	C
Then paus'd to give him a piece of advice	B
'You nasty Warmint look at the Clock	C
Is this the way you	D
Wretch every day you	D
Treat her who vow'd to love and obey you	D
Out all night	E
Me in a fright	E
Staggering home as it's just getting light	E
You intoxified brute you insensible block	C
Look at the Clock Do Look at the Clock '	-
	-
Winifred Pryce was tidy and clean	F
Her gown was a flower'd one her petticoat green	F
Her buckles were bright as her milking cans	G
And her hat was a beaver and made like a man's	G
Her little red eyes were deep set in their socket holes	H
Her gown tail was turn'd up and tuck'd through the pocket holes	H
A face like a ferret	I
Betoken'd her spirit	I
To conclude Mrs Pryce was not over young	J
Had very short legs and a very long tongue	J
	-
Now David Pryce	B
Had one darling vice	B
Remarkably partial to anything nice	B
Nought that was good to him came amiss	K
Whether to eat or to drink or to kiss	K
Especially ale	L
If it was not too stale	L
I really believe he'd have emptied a pail	L
Not that in Wales	M
They talk of their Ales	M
To pronounce the word they make use of might trouble you	D
Being spelt with a C two Rs and a W	D
	-
That particular day	N
As I've heard people say	N
Mr David Pryce had been soaking his clay	N
And amusing himself with his pipe and cheroots	N
The whole afternoon at the Goat in Boots	N
With a couple more soakers	N
Thoroughbred smokers	N
Both like himself prime singers and jokers	N
And long after day had drawn to a close	N
And the rest of the world was wrapp'd in repose	N
They were roaring out 'Shenkin ' and 'Ar hydd y nos '	-
While David himself to a Sassenach tune	O
Sang 'We've drunk down the Sun boys let's drink down the Moon '	-
What have we with day to do	D
Mrs Winifred Pryce 'twas made for you '	-
At length when they couldn't well drink any more	P
Old 'Goat in Boots' show'd them the door	P
And then came that knock	C
And the sensible shock	C
David felt when his wife cried 'Look at the Clock '	-
	-
For the hands stood as crooked as crooked might be	Q
The long at the Twelve and the short at the Three	Q
This self same Clock had long been a bone	R
Of contention between this Darby and Joan	R
And often among their pother and rout	S
When this otherwise amiable couple fell out	S
Pryce would drop a cool hint	T
With an ominous squint	T
At its case of an 'Uncle' of his who'd a 'Spout '	-
That horrid word 'Spout'	T
No sooner came out	T
Than Winifred Pryce would turn her about	T
And with scorn on her lip	U
And a hand on each hip	U
'Spout' herself till her nose grew red at the tip	U
'You thundering willain	R
I know you'd be killing	V
Your wife ay a dozen of wives for a shilling	V
You may do what you please	N
You may sell my chemise	N
Mrs P was too well bred to mention her stock	C
But I never will part with my Grandmother's Clock '	-
	-
Mrs Pryce's tongue ran long and ran fast	T
But patience is apt to wear out at last	T
And David Pryce in temper was quick	W
So he stretch'd out his hand and caught hold of a stick	W
Perhaps in its use he might mean to be lenient	T
But walking just then wasn't very convenient	T
So he threw it instead	T
Direct at her head	T
It knock'd off her hat	T
Down she fell flat	T
Her case perhaps was not much mended by that	T
But whatever it was whether rage and pain	R
Produced apoplexy or burst a vein	R
Or her tumble induced a concussion of brain	R
I can't say for certain but this I can	R
When sober'd by fright to assist her he ran	R
Mrs Winifred Pryce was as dead as Queen Anne	R
	-
The fearful catastrophe	Q
Named in my last strophe	Q
As adding to grim Death's exploits such a vast trophy	Q
Soon made a great noise and the shocking fatality	Q
Ran over like wild fire the whole Principality	Q
And then came Mr Ap Thomas the Coroner	X
With his jury to sit some dozen or more on her	X
Mr Pryce to commence	N
His 'ingenious defence '	-
Made a 'powerful appeal' to the jury's 'good sense '	-
'The world he must defy	Q
Ever to justify	Q
Any presumption of 'Malice Prepense '	-
The unlucky lick	W
From the end of his stick	W
He 'deplored ' he was 'apt to be rather too quick '	-
But really her prating	W
Was so aggravating	W
Some trifling correction was just what he meant all	Y
The rest he assured them was 'quite accidental '	-
	-
Then he called Mr Jones	N
Who deposed to her tones	N
And her gestures and hints about 'breaking his bones '	-
While Mr Ap Morgan and Mr Ap Rhys	N
Declared the Deceased	T
Had styled him 'a Beast '	-
And swore they had witness'd with grief and surprise	N
The allusions she made to his limbs and his eyes	N
The jury in fine having sat on the body	Q
The whole day discussing the case and gin toddy	Q
Return'd about half past eleven at night	Q
The following verdict 'We find Sarve her right '	-
Mr Pryce Mrs Winifred Pryce being dead	Q
Felt lonely and moped and one evening he said	Q
He would marry Miss Davis at once in her stead	Q
	-
Not far from his dwelling	W
From the vale proudly swelling	W
Rose a mountain it's name you'll excuse me from telling	W
For the vowels made use of in Welsh are so few	Q
That the A and the E the I O and the U	Q
Have really but little or nothing to do	Q
And the duty of course falls the heavier by far	Z
On the L and the H and the N and the R	Z
Its first syllable 'Pen '	-
Is pronounceable then	R
Come two L Ls and two H Hs two F Fs and an N	R
About half a score Rs and some Ws follow	A2
Beating all my best efforts at euphony hollow	A2
But we shan't have to mention it often so when	R
We do with your leave we'll curtail it to 'Pen '	-
	-
Well the moon shone bright	Q
Upon 'Pen' that night	Q
When Pryce being quit of his fuss and his fright	Q
Was scaling its side	Q
With that sort of stride	Q
A man puts out when walking in search of a bride	Q
Mounting higher and higher	X
He began to perspire	B2
Till finding his legs were beginning to tire	X
And feeling opprest	Q
By a pain in his chest	Q
He paused and turn'd round to take breath and to rest	Q
A walk all up hill is apt we know	A2
To make one however robust puff and blow	A2
So he stopp'd and look'd down on the valley below	A2
	-
O'er fell and o'er fen	R
Over mountain and glen	R
All bright in the moonshine his eye roved and then	R
All the Patriot rose in his soul and he thought	Q
Of Wales and her glories and all he'd been taught	Q
Of her Heroes of old	Q
So brave and so bold	Q
Of her Bards with long beards and harps mounted in gold	Q
Of King Edward the First	Q
Of memory accurst	Q
And the scandalous manner in which he behaved	Q
Killing Poets by dozens	N
With their uncles and cousins	N
Of whom not one in fifty had ever been shaved	Q
Of the Court Ball at which by a lucky mishap	C2
Owen Tudor fell into Queen Katherine's lap	C2
And how Mr Tudor	X
Successfully woo'd her	X
Till the Dowager put on a new wedding ring	W
And so made him Father in law to the King	W
	-
He thought upon Arthur and Merlin of yore	P
On Gryffth ap Conan and Owen Glendour	P
On Pendragon and Heaven knows how many more	P
He thought of all this as he gazed in a trice	N
And on all things in short but the late Mrs Pryce	N
When a lumbering noise from behind made him start	Q
And sent the blood back in full tide to his heart	Q
Which went pit a pat	Q
As he cried out 'What's that '	-
That very queer sound	Q
Does it come from the ground	Q
Or the air from above or below or around	Q
It is not like Talking	W
It is not like Walking	W
It's not like the clattering of pot or of pan	R
Or the tramp of a horse or the tread of a man	R
Or the hum of a crowd or the shouting of boys	N
It's really a deuced odd sort of a noise	N
Not unlike a Cart's but that can't be for when	R
Could 'all the King's horses and	Q