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The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman by Charles Dickens;William Makepeace Thackeray
page 16 of 16 (100%)
_With both their hearts so full of glee._

If any thing could add to the grace and beauty of the poem, it would be
this most satisfactory and agreeable conclusion. At the time of the foreign
lady's arrival on the shores of England, we find Lord Bateman in the
disagreeable dilemma of having contracted another marriage; to which step
his lordship has doubtless been impelled by despair of ever recovering his
lost Sophia, and a natural anxiety not to die without leaving an heir to
his estate. The ceremony has been performed, the Church has done its
office, the bride and her mamma have taken possession of the castle, when
the lost Sophia suddenly presents herself. An ordinary man would have been
overwhelmed by such a complication of perplexities--not so Lord Bateman.
Master of the human heart, he appeals to feminine ambition and love of
display; and, reminding the young lady that she came to him on a saddle
horse (with her revered parent following no doubt on foot behind), offers
to bestow upon her a coach and three. The young lady closes with the
proposition; her august mother, having brought it about by her freedom of
speech, makes no objection; Lord Bateman, being a nobleman of great power,
and having plenty of superfluous wealth to bestow upon the Church, orders
another marriage, and boldly declares the first one to be a nullity.
Thereupon "another marriage" is immediately prepared, and the piece closes
with a picture of general happiness and hilarity.]
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