88 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



* 



He thought her fairest of all fares, 



So fondly love prefers ; 

 And often among twelve outsides 



Deemed no outside like hers. 



One day as she was sitting down 



Beside the porter pump, 

 He came and knelt with all his fat, 



And made an offer plump. 



Said she, my taste will never learn 



To like so huge a man ; 

 So I must beg you will come here 



As little as you can. 



But still he stoutly urged his suit 

 With vows, and sighs, and tears ; 



Yet could not pierce her heart, although 

 He drove the Dart for years. 



In vain he vowed, in vain he sued, 

 The maid was cold and proud, 



And sent him off to Coventry 

 While on the way to Stroud. 



He fretted all the way to Stroud, 

 And thence all back to town ; 



The course of love was never smooth, 

 So he went up and down. 



At last her coldness made him pine 



To merely bones and skin ; 

 But still he loved like one resolved 



To love through thick and thin. 



Oh Mary ! view my wasted back, 



And see my dwindled calf ; 

 Though I have never had a wife, 



I've lost my better half. 



