“Humpty, dost thou not fear to stray
With the lady so far from the king’s highway?
Are Britain’s sons so dull or so cold
As still to be cheated with tinsel for gold?”
“Mistress Dumpty, I feel not the least alarm,
No placeman ever dare do me harm;
For though they vote her and me a bore,
They love their own heads and places more.”
“On he went—in her coach to ride,
While he cozened the lady who sat by his side;