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BALLAD.
OF all the girls that e'er were seen,
There's none so fine as Nelly,
For charming face and shape and mien,
And what's not fit to tell ye:
Oh! the turn'd neck, and smooth white skin
Of lovely dearest Nelly!
For many a swain it well had been
Had she ne'er pass'd by Calai-.
For when, as Nelly came to France
(Invited by her cousins)
Across the Tuilleries each glance
Kill'd Frenchmen by whole dozens;
The king, as he at dinner sate,
Did beckon to his hussar,
And bid him bring his tabby cat,
For charming Nell to buss her.
The ladies were with rage provok'd
To see her so respected:
The men look'd arch, as Nelly strok'd,
And puss her tail erected.
But not a man did look employ,
Except on pretty Nelly:
Then said the duke de Villeroy,
Ah! qu'elle est bien jolie!
But who's that grave philosopher,
That carefully looks a'ter?
By his concern it should appear,
The fair one is his daughter.
