Blair Collection > Selections from the Gaelic bards

A FAIR DAY. 209
One is the ploughman in his best array ;
That broad squat man, so round and corpulent,
With dry black hair, and full brown eye and bright,
The shabby coat, and clothes that once were good,
With his hands deep into his pouches held,
And look of ready cash about his face, —
That man who, jingling, jingling, stands and looks,
Is a horse-couper. And the tall thin man
With the broad shoulders who, with out-stretched neck,
O'erlooks his comrade's round and dusty hat,
And wears a coat that reaches to his heels —
He is the friend — the friend and referee.
But that 's an amateur whose brows are knit,
Who, better dressed and sprucer on the whole
Than the two dealers, sees a bargain close,
And stepping up, with calculating care
Pokes on the ribs the horse that 's to be sold, —
Looking as wise as Solomon the while —
Then with one weighty sentence turns away.
These are his friends and satellites behind,
Who hang upon his skirts, — look as he looks,
Turn as he turns, and wander as he goes ;
Thinking him paragon of mortal men.
See, here another ripening bargain grows,
Where the crowd severs fast from side to side,
And from its bosom rushes, at full trot,
A stalwart horse, and groom that stirs him on,
Displaying two grave figures to the view
Clad in loose clothes of no decided shape,
And darned, by'r lady, in more spots than one.
Ay, there they stand, like Damon and his fere,
Acutely watching the steed's heavy pace,
And much engrossed in cogitations deep
As any statist gives a nation's hopes —
What is his age, his quality, and breed ?
Pass yet along, and see this dusty close,
With many hundred pattering feet impressed,
9 r.