ページの画像
PDF
ePub

From the Abbot.

1820.

(1.)-THE PARDONER'S ADVERTISEMENT.

"Ar length the pardoner pulled from his scrip a small phial of clear water, of which he vaunted the quality in the following verses :"

Listneth, gode people, everiche one,
For in the londe of Babylone,
Far eastward I wot it lyeth,

And is the first londe the sonne espieth,
Ther, as he cometh fro out the sé;
In this ilk londe, as thinketh me,
Right as holie legendes tell,
Snottreth from a roke a well,
And falleth into ane bath of ston,
Wher chast Susanne in times long gon,
Was wont to wash her bodie and lim-
Mickle vertue hath that streme,

As shall se er that ye pas,
ye
Ensample by this little glas-
Through nightés cold and dayés hote,
Hiderward I have it brought;
Hath a wife made slip or slide,
Or a maiden stepp'd aside;

Putteth this water under her nese,
Wold she nold she, she shall snese.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

And yet it is not-no more than the shadow
Upon the hard, cold, flat, and polish'd mirror,
Is the warm, graceful, rounded, living substance
Which it presents in form and lineament.

(9.)-CHAP. XXIII.

Old Play

Give me a morsel on the greensward rather,

Coarse as you will the cooking-Let the fresh

spring

[blocks in formation]

Yes, it is she whose eyes look'd on thy childhood, And watch'd with trembling hope thy dawn of youth,

That now, with these same eye-balls, dimm'd with

age,

And dimmer yet with tears, sees thy dishonor.

(13.)-CHAP. Xxx.

Old Play.

In some breasts passion lies conceal'd and silent,
Like war's swart powder in a castle vault,
Until occasion, like the linstock, lights it;

Flatter the waiting-woman, bribe the valet;
But know, that I her father play the Gryphon,
Tameless and sleepless, proof to fraud or bribe,
And guard the hidden treasure of her beauty.
The Spanish Father.

(16.)-CHAP. XXXV.

It is a time of danger, not of revel,
When churchmen turn to masquers.
The Spanish Father.

(17.)-CHAP. XXXVII.

Ay, sir-our ancient crown, in these wild times,
Oft stood upon a cast-the gamester's ducat,
So often staked, and last, and then regain'd,
Scarce knew so many hazards.

The Spanish Father.

From Kenilworth.

1821.

(1.)-GOLDTHRED'S SONG.

"AFTER some brief interval, Master Goldthred, at the earnest instigation of mine host, and the joyous concurrence of his guests, indulged the company with the following morsel of melody:”— Of all the birds on bush or tree, Commend me to the owl, Since he may best ensample be To those the cup that trowl.

Then comes at once the lightning and the thun- For when the sun hath left the west, der,

And distant echoes tell that all is rent asunder.

(14.)-CHAP. XXXIII.

Old Play.

Death distant?-No, alas! he's ever with us,
And shakes the dart at us in all our actings:
He lurks within our cup, while we're in health;
Sits by our sick-bed, mocks our medicines;
We cannot walk, or sit, or ride, or travel,
But death is by to seize us when he lists.

The Spanish Father.

(15.)-CHAP. XXXIV.

He chooses the tree that he loves the best,

And he whoops out his song, and he laughs at his jest,

Then, though hours be late, and weather foul, We'll drink to the health of the bonny, bonny owl.

The lark is but a bumpkin fowl,

He sleeps in his nest till morn;
But my blessing upon the jolly owl,
That all night blows his horn.

Then up with your cup till you stagger in speech,
And match me this catch, till you swagger and
screech,

Ay, Pedro,-Come you here with mask and lan- And drink till you wink, my merry men each;

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

(10.)-CHAP. Xxx.

Now bid the steeple rock-she comes, she comes! Speak for us, bells! speak for us, shrill-tongued |

tuckets!

Stand to the linstock, gunner; let thy cannon Play such a peal, as if a Paynim foe

Thou the destroyer of herds, thou the scatterer of navies,

Amidst the scream of thy rage,

Amidst the rushing of thy onward wings,

Though thy scream be loud as the cry of a perishing nation,

Came stretch'd in turban'd ranks to storm the Though the rushing of thy wings be like the roar

[blocks in formation]

of ten thousand waves,

Yet hear, in thine ire and thy haste,

Hear thou the voice of the Reim-kennar.

2.

Thou hast met the pine-trees of Drontheim,

Their dark-green heads lie prostrate beside their uprooted stems;

Thou hast met the rider of the ocean,

The tall, the strong bark of the fearless rover,
And she has struck to thee the topsail
That she had not veil'd to a royal armada:
Thou hast met the tower that bears its crest among
the clouds,
[days,
The battled massive tower of the Jarl of former
And the cope-stone of the turret
Is lying upon its hospitable hearth;
But thou too shalt stoop, proud compeller of clouds,
When thou hearest the voice of the Reim-kennar.

3.

There are verses that can stop the stag in the forest,

Ay, and when the dark-color'd dog is opening on his track;

There are verses can make the wild hawk pause on the wing,

Like the falcon that wears the hood and the jesses, And who knows the shrill whistle of the fowler. Thou who canst mock at the scream of the drown

ing mariner,

And the crash of the ravaged forest,

And the groan of the overwhelm'd crowds,

When the church hath fallen in the moment of

prayer;

There are sounds which thou also must list, When they are chanted by the voice of the Reimkennar.

4.

Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the ocean,
The widows wring their hands on the beach;
Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the land,
The husbandman folds his arms in despair;
Cease thou the waving of thy pinions,
Let the ocean repose in her dark strength;
Cease thou the flashing of thine eye,

Let the thunderbolt sleep in the armory of Odin, Be thou still at my bidding, viewless racer of the north-western heaven,

Sleep thou at the voice of Norna the Reim-kennai

[blocks in formation]
« 前へ次へ »