Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephanie Eason, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) The Baron's Yule Feast. LONDON: Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE, New-Street-Square. The Baron's Yule Feast: A Christmas-Rhyme. By Thomas Cooper, The Chartist. London JEREMIAH HOW 209 Picadilley 1846 TO THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. Lady, receive a tributary lay From one who cringeth not to titled state Conventional, and lacketh will to prate Of comeliness--though thine, to which did pay The haughty Childe his tuneful homage, may No minstrel deem a harp-theme derogate. I reckon thee among the truly great And fair, because with genius thou dost sway The thought of thousands, while thy noble heart With pity glows for Suffering, and with zeal Cordial relief and solace to impart. Thou didst, while I rehearsed Toil's wrongs, reveal Such yearnings! Plead! let England hear thee plead With eloquent tongue,--that Toil from wrong be freed! ADVERTISEMENT. Several pieces in the following Rhyme were written many years ago, and will be recognised by my early friends. They were the fruit of impressions derived from the local associations of boyhood, (of which, the reader, if inclined, may learn more in the notes,) and of an admiration created by the exquisite beauty and simplicity of Coleridge's 'Christabel,'--which I had by heart, and used to repeat to Thomas Miller, my playmate and companion from infancy, during many a delightful 'Day in the Woods,' and pleasing ramble on the hills and in the woods above Gainsborough, and along the banks of Trent. I offer but one apology for the production of a metrical essay, composed chiefly of imperfect and immature pieces:--the ambition to contribute towards the fund of Christmas entertainment, in which agreeable labour I see many popular names engaged,--and among them, one, the most deservedly popular in the literature of the day. The favour with which an influential portion of the press has received my 'Prison Rhyme' emboldens me to take this step; and if the flagellation of criticism be not too keenly dealt upon me for the imperfections in the few pages that follow, I will be content, in this instance, to expect no praise. 134, _Blackfriars Road_, _Dec. 20. 1845_. THE BARON'S YULE FEAST. A Christmas Rhyme. CANTO I. Right beautiful is Torksey's hall,[1] Adown by meadowed Trent; Right beautiful that mouldering wall, And remnant of a turret tall, Shorn of its battlement.