4
THE IMPROBABILITY.
As I was musing in a grove,
all by myself, as I suppos’d,
Mv mind did oft-times me reprove,
but by no means could be compos'd;
At length by chance a friend I met,
which caus’d me long to tarry,
Of me she did entreat to tell her,
when I had a mind to marry.
When saffron grows on every tree,
and every stream flow milk and honey,
When sugar grows on carrot fields,
and usurers refuse money;
And countrymen for judges sit,
and Michaelmas falls in February,
When millers do their tolls forget,
O then my love and I’ll be married.
When Shrove-tide falls on Easter week,
and Christmas in the month of July,
When lawyers plead without a fee,
and taylors they deal just and truly,
When all deceit is quite put down,
and truth by all men is preferred,
When Indigo dyes red and brown,
O then my love and I’ll be married.
When men and beasts the ocean plow,
and fishes in green fields are feeding,
