John Day. A Pathetic Ballad.

“A Day after the Fair.”—Old Proverb.

John Day he was the biggest man

Of all the coachman kind,

With back too broad to be conceived

By any narrow mind.

The very horses knew his weight,

When he was in the rear,

And wished his box a Christmas box,

To come but once a year.

Alas¹! against the shafts² of love,

What armor can avail?

Soon Cupid sent an arrow through

His scarlet³ coat of mail.

The barmaid of the Crown he loved,

From whom he never ranged,

For though he changed his horses there,

His love he never changed.

He thought her fairest of all fares,

So fondly love prefers;

And often, among twelve outsides,

Deemed no outside like hers!

One day, as she was sitting down

Beside the porter-pump —

He came, and knelt with all his fat,

And made an offer plump.

Said she, my taste will never learn

To like so huge a man,

So I must beg you will come here

As little as you can.

But still he stoutly⁴ urged his suit

With vows⁶, and sighs, and tears,

Yet could not pierce her heart, altho’

He drove the Dart⁷ for years.

In vain he wooed, in vain he sued,

The maid was cold and proud,

And sent him off to Coventry,

While on his way to Stroud.

He fretted⁸ all the way to Stroud,

And thence all back to town,

The course of love was never smooth,

So his went up and down.

At last her coldness made him pine

To merely bones and skin,

But still he loved like one resolved

To love through thick and thin.

O Mary! view my wasted back,

And see my dwindled⁹ calf¹⁰;

Tho’ I have never had a wife,

I’ve lost my better half.

Alas, in vain he still assail’d,

He heart withstood the dint¹¹;

Though he had carried sixteen stone

He could not move a flint.

Worn out, at last he made a vow⁵

To break his being’s link;

For he was so reduced in size,

At nothing he could shrink.

Now some will talk in water’s praise,

And waste a deal of breath,

But John, tho’ he drank nothing else,

He drank himself to death!

The cruel maid that caused his love

Found out the fatal close,

For looking in the butt¹², she saw

The butt-end of his woes¹³.

Some say his spirit haunts the Crown,

But that is only talk —

For after riding all his life,

His ghost objects to walk!

1 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

2 shafts   

n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等）

参考例句：

• He deliberately jerked the shafts to rock him a bit. 他故意的上下颠动车把，摇这个老猴子几下。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• Shafts were sunk, with tunnels dug laterally. 竖井已经打下，并且挖有横向矿道。 来自辞典例句

3 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

4 stoutly   

adv.牢固地，粗壮的

参考例句：

• He stoutly denied his guilt.他断然否认自己有罪。
• Burgess was taxed with this and stoutly denied it.伯杰斯为此受到了责难，但是他自己坚决否认有这回事。

5 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

6 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

7 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

8 fretted   

焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的

参考例句：

• The wind whistled through the twigs and fretted the occasional, dirty-looking crocuses. 寒风穿过枯枝，有时把发脏的藏红花吹刮跑了。 来自英汉文学
• The lady's fame for hitting the mark fretted him. 这位太太看问题深刻的名声在折磨着他。

9 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

11 dint   

n.由于，靠；凹坑

参考例句：

• He succeeded by dint of hard work.他靠苦干获得成功。
• He reached the top by dint of great effort.他费了很大的劲终于爬到了顶。

12 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

13 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。