Fifty-two wives! and still he went about
Peering below the maiden ladies' veils--
Indeed, it _was_ said (but there hangs a doubt
Of scandal on such gossip-whisper'd tales),
He had a good one still to single out--
For all his wives had tongues, and _some_ had nails--
And still he hoped, though fifty-twice deferr'd,
To find an angel in his fifty-third.
In China, mind, and such outlandish places,
A gentleman who wishes to be wed
Looks round about among the pretty faces,
Nor for a moment doubts they may be had
For asking; and if any of them "nay" says,
He has his remedy as soon as said--
For, when the bridegrooms disapprove what they do,
They teach them manners with the bastinado.
Near Te-pott's palace lived an old Chinese--
About as poor a man as could be known
In lands where guardians leave them to their ease,
Nor pen the poor up in bastilles of stone:
He got a livelihood by picking teas;
And of possessions worldly had but one--
But one--the which, the reader must be told,
Was a fair daughter seventeen years old.
She was a lovely little girl, and one
To charm the wits of both the high and _the_ low;
And Te-pott's ancient heart was lost and won
In less time than 'twould take my pen to tell how:
So, as he was quite an experienced son-
In-law, and, too, a very wily fellow,
To make Hy-son his friend was no hard matter, I
Ween, with that specific for parents--flattery.
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