He thought his master’s stomach was in danger,

But still in the same tone replied the Knight,

“Go down, John, go, I have no appetite;

Say I’m engaged with a celestial stranger.”—

Quoth John, not much au fait in such affairs,

“Wouldn’t the stranger take a bit down stairs?”

“No,” said the master, smiling, and no wonder,

At such a blunder,

“The stranger is not quite the thing you think,

He wants no meat or drink,