Transcriber’s Note:
Author noted as G. Boare in the opening pages, and as G. Boase at the end of the text. Left as printed.

    e was a rat, and she was a rat,
And down in one hole they did dwell,
And both were as black as a witch’s cat,
And they loved one another well.

        He had a tail, and she had a tail,
Both long and curling and fine,
And each said “Yours is the finest tail
In the world,—excepting mine!”

    e smelt the cheese, and she smelt the cheese,
And they both pronounced it good,
And both remarked it would greatly add
To the charms of their daily food.

 

 

o he ventured out, and she ventured out,

And I saw them go with pain,

But what befell them I never can tell,