Hoh!
Now, it's of a young squoire near Timworth did dwell,
Who courted a nobleman's daughter so well—
The song has little or nothing to do with the “squire”, except so far as “all friends and relations had given consent,” and—
The troo-soo was ordered—appointed the day,
And a farmer were appointed for to give her away—
which last seemed a most unusual proceeding, considering the wedding was a toney affair; but perhaps there were personal interests—the nobleman might have been hard up, and the farmer backing him. But there was an extraordinary scene in the church, and things got mixed.
For as soon as this maiding this farmer espied:
“Hoh, my heart! Hoh, my heart!
Hoh, my heart!” then she cried.
Hysterics? Anyway, instead of being wed—
This maiden took sick and she went to her bed.
(N.B.—Pinter sticks to 'virging'.)
Whereupon friends and relations and guests left the house in a body (a strange but perhaps a wise proceeding, after all—maybe they smelt a rat) and left her to recover alone, which she did promptly. And then: