[13]
’T WAS not my whole,—and yet the King was there.
A fate hung in the balance. Suddenly
My second fell! A burning flush of shame
Showed on the man’s pale face. He looked aghast,
And cried, “I can’t retract, but I confess
My fault, and beg forgiveness of my first.”
[14]
WHEN at an inn I stopped to dine
Mine host brought out some rare old wine,
It was a bottle of his best,
My first and second it possessed,
In peace I ate and drank my fill,
Then asked the waiter for my bill,
My whole was charged! I looked quite blank,
My whole I neither ate nor drank.
[15]
I HAD two gardeners who to work were loath,
But straightway to my first I sent them both.
Such lazy fellows! Yet I must admit
A lazier one could be,—my second ’s it.
The ancients’ art my whole doth represent,
A perfect figure softly curved and bent.
[16]
HENRY the Eighth grew tired of life
With Catherine, his lawful wife.
But for divorce he ’d no decree;
Enraged, the King cried, “One, two, three!”