50 Bab Ballads, vol 1

mated! Ballad: TO MY BRIDE--(WHOEVER SHE MAY BE.) Oh! little maid!--(I do not know your name Or who you are, so, as a safe precaution I'll add)--Oh, buxom widow! married dame! (As one of these must be your present portion) Listen, while I unveil prophetic lore for you, And sing the fate that Fortune has in store for you. You'll marry soon--within a year or twain - A bachelor of circa two and thirty: Tall, gentlemanly, but extremely plain, And when you're intimate, you'll call him -BERTIE.- Neat--dresses well; his temper has been classified As hasty; but he's very quickly pacified. You'll find him working mildly at the Bar, After a touch at two or three professions, From easy affluence extremely far, A brief or two on Circuit---soup- at Sessions; A pound or two from whist and backing horses, And, say three hundred from his own resources. Quiet in harness; free from serious vice, His faults are not particularly s