TELL thee, Dick, where I have been ; At Charing Cross, hard by the way Where we (thou know'st) do sell our hay, There is a house with stairs; The occasion of this poem is said to have been the marriage of Lord Broghill to Lady Margaret Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk. 2 Suffolk House stood close to the foot of the Haymarket. Suffolk-street, Pall Mall, takes its name from it. Amongst the rest one pest'lent fine Our landlord looks like nothing to him; The King (God bless him) 'twould undo him, Should he go still so drest. At Course-a-park, without all doubt, But wot you what? The youth was going Yet by his leave, for all his haste, Her finger was so small, the ring And, to say truth, (for out it must) Her feet beneath her petticoat, But oh! she dances such a way; Her cheeks so rare, a white was on, No daisie makes comparison; (Who sees them is undone) For streaks of red were mingled there, The side that's next the Sun. Her lips were red; and one was thin, But, Dick, her eyes so guard her face, Her mouth so small, when she does speak, That they might passage get; But she so handl'd still the matter, They came as good as ours, or better, Passion, oh me! how I run on! There's that that would be thought upon, I trow besides the bride. The business of the kitchen's great; For it is fit that men should eat, Nor was it there denied. Just in the nick the Cook knock'd thrice And all the waiters in a trice His summons did obey; 3 It was prettily supposed that the sun danced on Easter-day. Each servingman with dish in hand March'd boldly up like our train'd-band, When all the meat was on the table, What man of knife, or teeth, was able And this the very reason was, Before the parson could say grace Now hats fly off, and youths carouse; And when 'twas nam'd another's health, O' th' sudden, up they rise and dance; By this time, all were stol'n aside But that he must not know: But yet, 'twas thought he guest her mind, And did not mean to stay behind Above an hour or so. |