To see the black mane, vast and heapy, His platform, and us who surrounded No outlet, 'mid lightning and thunder, Ay, that was the open sky o'erhead! And you saw by the flash on his forehead, "How he stands!" quoth the King: "we may well swear, ("No novice, we 've won our spurs elsewhere "And so can afford the confession,) "We exercise wholesome discretion "In keeping aloof from his threshold ; "Once hold you, those jaws want no fresh hold, "Their first would too pleasantly purloin "The visitor's brisket or sirloin : "But who 's he would prove so fool-hardy? "Not the best man of Marignan, pardie!" The sentence no sooner was uttered, The dame 't was, who flung it and jested Sound the trumpet, no true knight 's a tarrier! Flung the glove. "Your heart's queen, you dethrone her? "So should I !"-cried the King-"' t was mere vanity, "Not love, set that task to humanity!" Lords and ladies alike turned with loathing Not so, I; for I caught an expression To what "speeches like gold" were reducible, And asked, as a grace, what it all meant? She told me, "Too long had I heard "Of the deed proved alone by the word : "For my love-what De Lorge would not dare! "With my scorn-what De Lorge could compare! "And the endless descriptions of death "He would brave when my lip formed a breath, "I must reckon as braved, or, of course, "Doubt his word—and moreover, perforce, "For such gifts as no lady could spurn, "Must offer my love in return. "When I looked on your lion, it brought "All the dangers at once to my thought, "Encountered by all sorts of men, "Before he was lodged in his den, "From the poor slave whose club or bare hands "Dug the trap, set the snare on the sands, "With no King and no Court to applaud, "That his rude boys might laugh at the gift, -To the page who last leaped o'er the fence "Of the pit, on no greater pretence "Than to get back the bonnet he dropped, "Lest his pay for a week should be stopped. "So, wiser I judged it to make "One trial what 'death for my sake' "Really meant, while the power was yet mine, "Than to wait until time should define "Does the mark yet discolour my cheek? "But when the heart suffers a blow, "Will the pain pass so soon, do you know?" I looked, as away she was sweeping, No doubt that a noble should more weigh His life than befits a plebeian ; And yet, had our brute been Nemean— (I judge by a certain calm fervour The youth stepped with, forward to serve her) -He'd have scarce thought you did him the worst turn If you whispered, "Friend, what you'd get, first earn!' Her shame from the Court, and they married, For De Lorge, he made women with men vie, That he wooed and won . . . how do you call her? To the King's love, who loved her a week well. And 't was noticed he never would honour How bringing a glove brought such glory, But the wife smiled-" His nerves are grown firmer : "Mine he brings now and utters no murmur." Venienti occurrite morbo ! With which moral I drop my theorbo. SONG. J NAY but you, who do not love her, Is she not pure gold, my mistress? So fair, see, ere I let it fall? II Because, you spend your lives in praising; If earth holds aught-speak truth-above her? But cannot praise, I love so much! A SERENADE AT THE VILLA. I THAT was I, you heard last night, |