Which Is the Favourite?

Brothers and sisters I have many:

Though I know there is not any

Of them but I love, yet I

Will just name them all; and try

As one by one I count them o'er,

If there be one a little more

Lov'd by me than all the rest.

Yes; I do think, that I love best

My brother Henry, because he

Has always been most fond of me.

Yet, to be sure, there's Isabel;

I think I love her quite as well.

And, I assure you, little Ann,

No brother nor no sister can

Be more dear to me than she.

Only I must say, Emily,

Being the eldest, it's right her

To all the rest I should prefer

Yet after all I've said, suppose

My greatest favourite should be Rose.

No, John and Paul are both more dear

To me than Rose, that's always here,

While they are half the year at school;

And yet that neither is no rule.

I've nam'd them all, there's only seven;

I find my love to all so even,

To every sister, every brother,

I love not one more than another.