In the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire occupied much of eastern Europe. Young European women (and men) were captured and enslaved, and sold on the auction block. Some were brought in from Mediterranean captures, and sold if no suitable ransom had been offered.

Samuel Baker, a young and wealthy Englishman, was taken by a young woman on the auction block (I believe in present-day Hungary- sometime since I read the book) and bought her for fifty pounds. He was unwilling to take her home to face his family, and set out with her, travelling as his wife Florence, on an exploration of the upper Nile River. On that and subsequent expeditions, he and his companion made a number of discoveries about the upper Nile system.

Years later, the union may have been joined privately at St. Paul's, but the family still refuses to release his papers and much remains a mystery.
Richard Hall, 1980, "Lovers on the Nile," an Idyll of African Exploration, tells this unusual true story.

This poem, "The Slave Auctioneer," belongs to that period. Although I think that satire was the intent of the unknown author, it reminded of the Baker story.

Lyr. Add: THE SLAVE AUCTIONEER

Come, ladies and gentlemen, here you shall see
A cargo of slaves, that's just landed from sea;
They'll please you full well, if I do not mistake,
Or I of my voyage no profit shall make,
My hammer shall set them a-going, a-going.

I've a noble collection as ever was seen,
And some, that in all parts of Europe have been,
I've French, and I've English, Italian and Dutch,
To collect them together has troubled me much;
My hammer shall set them a-going, a-going.

I've beaux for the ladies, and belles for the men,
Such beauties you'll never fix eyes on again,
They're youthful and charming, to please every mind,
And then to their owners, I hope, they'll prove kind;
My hammer shall set them a-going, a-going.

The catalogue tells you their name and their station,
By whom they were ta'en, likewise from what nation,
Bid with spirit, ye buyers, nought venture, nought win,
For this moment, my friends, I the sale will begin;
My hammer shall set them a-going, a-going.

p. 335, vol. III, "The Universal Songster or, Museum of Mirth." London, Jones and Company, 1828.