4,74 THE FIFTH SON. 



A BACHELOR BALLAD. 



Aye, call me cold if beauty's snares 



No more my heart decoy, 

 I've seen too many happy faces 



To wish to share their joy ; 

 I've heard the words of union read, 



The bells rejoicing ring, ' t "iO 



I've brothers four and how they sped 



My task is now to sing ; t j^j 



I tell you that I woud not wed 



To make myself a king. 



\ ;" , TfR .diufefl 



My eldest brother needs must seek ,, )Y 



A bride of high estate, 

 Whose sire's achievements in a week 



You hardly could relate : 

 Alas ! poor Grey ! when Lady Anne 



His lady deign'd to be, 

 Her tongue like water ever ran 



Its theme her ancestry 

 God help, say I, the simple man 



That weds old family ! , JnfiLaq ff Jiw 



s 9ffr George made a vow his love should know 

 -rroda ctf The name of every shell, 



And all the flowers and trees that grow 



By root, and leaf, and smell. 

 Yet more than these his charmer knew 



And never was content, 

 Save when on brown arid saridell'd shoe > 7 ob 



To botanize she went ; 

 9W Bsibfil tedi And to his chamber he withdrew^,}) {^ fiB 



9 rfj j To mourn his money spent. , - & j 89 g mjo Vrq 9ffo 



> norgrbi ' Poor John, the third ! Alas I a sigh > 9f ft j Bf f j t8BW 

 tprb ,Ji ni igfisl JHis stony bust may tell, 



>rfr oJ 'ilaaJi barfrri 1 ? choose, for cheek, and foot, and eye, ^ ^ 

 bfiB g no3 .,aT, v A P rou d triumphant belle. 



Her heart was with her glass, or wherfe 



Her gems in caskets lay, 

 From night to morn her only care 



What flattering tongues could say ? 

 She teas'd the jealous to despair, 



And then she ran away. 

 His warning by the elder three 



Sagacious Jasper took, 

 No dainty lady of degree, 



Of beauty, or of look : 

 His thrifty spouse disdained to sit 



Her time with thought to kill, 

 To roast, to boil, to spin, to knit, 

 Her hand was never still ; 







She ruled the keys she ruled the spit, 



She ruled her husband's will. 

 Then call me cold, if woman's snares 



No more my heart decoy, loiam tad .ssnhtoob 



I've seen too many happy pairs 



To wish to share their joy. 

 Grey hath grown deaf-and George-he fled 



From all his duns in spring; 

 John, of his broken heart is dead, fl <l" 



Could hen-pecked Jasper sing ? 

 He'd join my stave " I would not wed 

 To make myself a king !" E. F. C. 



