_Before you let them tak' aff their shune_.

[The maidens thought they would amuse them,
And, laughing, they chorused to the tune,
"Oh yes, we in holy bands will noose them
_Before we let them tak' aff their shune_."]




XXI.

THE BALLAD OF MATRIMONY.


"Come, now tell me, Clarabella,
How that wondrous thing befell,
Why you took that sorry fellow,
Leaving me who loved you well?
It was, good faith! a sad miscarriage,
And cost me many a pang of pain;
Indeed, when I heard of your marriage,
I vowed I ne'er would love again."

"Well, I don't mind, since you're pathetic,
And so the reason you shall hear:
Th' affair was one of arithmetic--
A matter of so much a year.
His father left five thousand good
Of pounds per annum, as you know,