Explore "The Hostess' Daughter" by Sabine Baring-Gould on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
H. F. S. [Music]
1. The Hostess of the Ring of Bells / A daughter hath with auburn hair; / Go where I will, o'er plain and hill, / I do not find a maid more fair; / She welcomes me with dimpled smiles, / And e'en a kiss will not deny / O! would for us the bells did ring! / And we were wed -- that maid and I!
2. But as I travelled down the road, / There went by me a packer-train; / 'Twas Roger Rawle, and Sandy Paul, / And Hunchback Joe, and Philip Mayne. / Says Roger, I have had a kiss, / From that sly maiden at the Bell, / And I, said Joe, and Paul said so, / And so did Philip Mayne as well.
3. Till weather-beaten as the sign / That doth before the tavern swing, / That maid will stay, and none essay, / To make her his with bell and ring. / Methinks I'll take another road, / Where hap some modest maiden dwells, / No saucy miss, with ready kiss, / And then for us shall ring the Bells.