"Now when two years had passed away Her lord took very ill, And left her to her widowhood, Of course, more dumpy still. "Said John, I am a proper man, And very tall to see, Who knows, but now her lord is low She may look up to me? "'A cunning woman told me once Such fortune would turn up, She was a kind of sorceress, But studied in a cup.' "So he walked up to Lady Wye, And took her quite amazed, She thought though John was tall enough He wanted to be raised. "But John--for why? she was a dame Of such a dwarfish sort-- Had only come to bid her make Her mourning very short. "Said he, 'your lord is dead and cold, You only cry in vain, Not all the cries of London now, Could call him back again. "'You'll soon have many a noble beau, To dry your noble tears, But just consider this that I Have followed you for years. "'And tho' you are above me far, What matters high degree, When you are only four foot nine, And I am six foot three? "'For though you are of lofty race, And I'm a low-born elf, Yet none among your friends could say, You matched beneath yourself.' "Said she, 'such insolence as this Can be no common case; Though you are in my service, Sir, Your love is out of place.' "'O Lady Wye! O Lady Wye! Consider what you do; How can you be so short with me, I am not so with you!' "Then ringing for her serving-men, They show'd him to the door; Said they, 'you turn out better now, Why didn't you before?' "They stripp'd his coat, and gave him kicks For all his wages due, And off instead of green and gold He went in black and blue. "No family would take him in Because of this discharge, So he made up his mind to serve The country all at large. "'Huzza!' the serjeant cried, and put The money in his hand, And with a shilling cut him off From his paternal land. "For when his regiment went to fight At Saragossa town, A Frenchman thought he look'd too tall, And so he cut him down." Barham's humour, as seen in his "Ingoldsby Legends," is of a lower character, but shows that the author possessed a great natural facility. He had keen observation, but his taste did not prevent his employing it on what was coarse and puerile. Common slang abounds, as in "The Vulgar Little Boy;" he talks of "the devil's cow's tail," and is little afraid of extravagances. His metre often assists him, and we have often comic rhyming as where "Mephistopheles" answers to "Coffee lees," and he says:-- "To gain your sweet smiles, were I Sardanapalus, I'd descend from my throne, and be boots at an alehouse,"