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第20章

50 bab ballads-第20章

小说: 50 bab ballads 字数: 每页4000字

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Time progressing;

GEORGIE'S blessing

Grew more Ritualistic …

Popish scandals;

Tonsures … sandals …

Genuflections mystic;

Gushing meetings …

Bosom…beatings …

Heavenly ecstatics …

Broidered spencers …

Copes and censers …

Rochets and dalmatics。



This quandary

Vexed the fairy …

Flew she down to Ealing。

〃GEORGIE; stop it!

Pray you; drop it;

Hark to my appealing:

To this foolish

Papal rule…ish

Twaddle put an ending;

This a swerve is

From our Service

Plain and unpretending。〃



He; replying;

Answered; sighing;

Hawing; hemming; humming;

〃It's a pity …

They're so pritty;

Yet in mode becoming;

Mother tender;

I'll surrender …

I'll be unaffected … 〃

But his Bishop

Into HIS shop

Entered unexpected!



〃Who is this; sir; …

Ballet miss; sir?〃

Said the Bishop coldly。

〃'T is my mother;

And no other;〃

GEORGIE answered boldly。

〃Go along; sir!

You are wrong; sir;

You have years in plenty;

While this hussy

(Gracious mussy!)

Isn't two and twenty!〃



(Fairies clever

Never; never

Grow in visage older;

And the fairy;

All unwary;

Leant upon his shoulder!)

Bishop grieved him;

Disbelieved him;

GEORGE the point grew warm on;

Changed religion;

Like a pigeon; (14)

And became a Mormon!







Ballad: THE WAY OF WOOING。







A MAIDEN sat at her window wide;

Pretty enough for a Prince's bride;

Yet nobody came to claim her。

She sat like a beautiful picture there;

With pretty bluebells and roses fair;

And jasmine…leaves to frame her。

And why she sat there nobody knows;

But this she sang as she plucked a rose;

The leaves around her strewing:

〃I've time to lose and power to choose;

'T is not so much the gallant who woos;

But the gallant's WAY of wooing!〃



A lover came riding by awhile;

A wealthy lover was he; whose smile

Some maids would value greatly …

A formal lover; who bowed and bent;

With many a high…flown compliment;

And cold demeanour stately;

〃You've still;〃 said she to her suitor stern;

〃The 'prentice…work of your craft to learn;

If thus you come a…cooing。

I've time to lose and power to choose;

'T is not so much the gallant who woos;

As the gallant's WAY of wooing!〃



A second lover came ambling by …

A timid lad with a frightened eye

And a colour mantling highly。

He muttered the errand on which he'd come;

Then only chuckled and bit his thumb;

And simpered; simpered shyly。

〃No;〃 said the maiden; 〃go your way;

You dare but think what a man would say;

Yet dare to come a…suing!

I've time to lose and power to choose;

'T is not so much the gallant who woos;

As the gallant's WAY of wooing!〃



A third rode up at a startling pace …

A suitor poor; with a homely face …

No doubts appeared to bind him。

He kissed her lips and he pressed her waist;

And off he rode with the maiden; placed

On a pillion safe behind him。

And she heard the suitor bold confide

This golden hint to the priest who tied

The knot there's no undoing;

With pretty young maidens who can choose;

'T is not so much the gallant who woos;

As the gallant's WAY of wooing!〃







Ballad: HONGREE AND MAHRY。  A RECOLLECTION OF A SURREY MELODRAMA。







THE sun was setting in its wonted west;

When HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores;

Met MAHRY DAUBIGNY; the Village Rose;

Under the Wizard's Oak … old trysting…place

Of those who loved in rosy Aquitaine。



They thought themselves unwatched; but they were not;

For HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores;

Found in LIEUTENANT…COLONEL JOOLES DUBOSC

A rival; envious and unscrupulous;

Who thought it not foul scorn to dodge his steps;

And listen; unperceived; to all that passed

Between the simple little Village Rose

And HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores。



A clumsy barrack…bully was DUBOSC;

Quite unfamiliar with the well…bred tact

That animates a proper gentleman

In dealing with a girl of humble rank。

You'll understand his coarseness when I say

He would have married MAHRY DAUBIGNY;

And dragged the unsophisticated girl

Into the whirl of fashionable life;

For which her singularly rustic ways;

Her breeding (moral; but extremely rude);

Her language (chaste; but ungrammatical);

Would absolutely have unfitted her。

How different to this unreflecting boor

Was HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores。



Contemporary with the incident

Related in our opening paragraph;

Was that sad war 'twixt Gallia and ourselves

That followed on the treaty signed at Troyes;

And so LIEUTENANT…COLONEL JOOLES DUBOSC

(Brave soldier; he; with all his faults of style)

And HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores;

Were sent by CHARLES of France against the lines

Of our Sixth HENRY (Fourteen twenty…nine);

To drive his legions out of Aquitaine。



When HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores;

Returned; suspecting nothing; to his camp;

After his meeting with the Village Rose;

He found inside his barrack letter…box

A note from the commanding officer;

Requiring his attendance at head…quarters。

He went; and found LIEUTENANT…COLONEL JOOLES。



〃Young HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores;

This night we shall attack the English camp:

Be the 'forlorn hope' yours … you'll lead it; sir;

And lead it too with credit; I've no doubt。

As every man must certainly be killed

(For you are twenty 'gainst two thousand men);

It is not likely that you will return。

But what of that? you'll have the benefit

Of knowing that you die a soldier's death。〃



Obedience was young HONGREE'S strongest point;

But he imagined that he only owed

Allegiance to his MAHRY and his King。

〃If MAHRY bade me lead these fated men;

I'd lead them …but I do not think she would。

If CHARLES; my King; said; 'Go; my son; and die;'

I'd go; of course … my duty would be clear。

But MAHRY is in bed asleep; I hope;

And CHARLES; my King; a hundred leagues from this。

As for LIEUTENANT…COLONEL JOOLES DUBOSC;

How know I that our monarch would approve

The order he has given me to…night?

My King I've sworn in all things to obey …

I'll only take my orders from my King!〃

Thus HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores;

Interpreted the terms of his commission。



And HONGREE; who was wise as he was good;

Disguised himself that night in ample cloak;

Round flapping hat; and vizor mask of black;

And made; unnoticed; for the English camp。

He passed the unsuspecting sentinels

(Who little thought a man in this disguise

Could be a proper object of suspicion);

And ere the curfew bell had boomed 〃lights out;〃

He found in audience Bedford's haughty Duke。



〃Your Grace;〃 he said; 〃start not … be not alarmed;

Although a Frenchman stands before your eyes。

I'm HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores。

My Colonel will attack your camp to…night;

And orders me to lead the hope forlorn。

Now I am sure our excellent KING CHARLES

Would not approve of this; but he's away

A hundred leagues; and rather more than that。

So; utterly devoted to my King;

Blinded by my attachment to the throne;

And having but its interest at heart;

I feel it is my duty to disclose

All schemes that emanate from COLONEL JOOLES;

If I believe that they are not the kind

Of schemes that our good monarch would approve。〃



〃But how;〃 said Bedford's Duke; 〃do you propose

That we should overthrow your Colonel's scheme?〃

And HONGREE; Sub…Lieutenant of Chassoores;

Replied at once with never…failing tact:

〃Oh; sir; I know this cursed country well。

Entrust yourself and all your host to me;

I'll lead you safely by a secret path

Into the heart of COLONEL JOOLES' array;

And you can then attack them unprepared;

And slay my fellow…countrymen unarmed。〃



The  thing was done。  The DUKE of BEDFORD gave

The order; and two thousand fighting men

Crept silently into the Gallic camp;

And slew the Frenchmen as they lay asleep;

And Bedford's haught

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