Taper Soup

Young Dolly was a famous cook,
Well skill’d in all your sorts of dishes,
For she cou’d dress you, by the book,
Both flesh and fowl, rich sauce and fishes;
Good fruits and roots of various kind,
She well cou’d bake or boil or mash up,
And what was left when she had din’d
She wou’d cut down at night and hash up.

It so fell out upon a time,
That this same doll was sent to market,
The price was high, the meat was prime,
As ever you aim’d knife or fork at, —
And so it ought, and so you’d say,
If you knew the grand occasion,
For ’twas long Neddy’s wedding day,
With dumpty Kate his own relation.

With hungry maws, the guests took seats,
When Doll took off the scalding kettle,
With ladle fulls she plied their plates,
And promis’d more when they had eat all;
But truth now bids me tell you what
I wou’d most fain avoid relating
The broth was hot, but far from fat —
For she forgot to put the meat in.

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