Who will wed the Dowager’s youngest daughter, <br />The Captain? filled with ale? <br />He moored his expected boat to a stake in the water <br />And stumbled on sea-legs into the Hall for mating, <br />Only to be seduced by her lady-in-waiting, <br />Round-bosomed, and not so pale. <br /> <br /> <br />Or the thrifty burgher in boots and fancy vest <br />With considered views of marriage? <br />By the tidy scullery maid he was impressed <br />Who kept that house from depreciation and dirt, <br />But wife does double duty and takes no hurt, <br />So he rode her home in his carriage. <br /> <br /> <br />Never the spare young scholar antiquary <br />Who was their next resort; <br />They let him wait in the crypt of the Old Library <br />And found him compromised with a Saxon book, <br />Claiming his truelove Learning kept that nook <br />And promised sweet disport. <br /> <br /> <br />Desirée (of a mother’s christening) never shall wed <br />Though fairest child of her womb; <br />“We will have revenge,” her injured Ladyship said, <br />“Henceforth the tightest nunnery be thy bed <br />By the topmost stair! When the ill-bred lovers come <br />We’ll say, She is not at home.”<br /><br />John Crowe Ransom<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/romance-of-a-youngest-daughter/
