But thou wilt never move from hence, Old boxes, larded with the steam Of thirty thousand dinners. In there came old Alice the nurse, ་ Said, 'Who was this that went from thee ?' 'It was my cousin,' said Lady Clare, 'To-morrow he weds with me.' 'O God be thank'd!' said Alice the nurse, 'That all comes round so just and fair : We fret, we fume, would shift our skins, Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands, Would quarrel with our lot; Thy care is, under polish'd tins, To serve the hot-and-hot ; To come and go, and come again, Live long, ere from thy topmost head The thick-set hazel dies; Long, ere the hateful crow shall tread Live long, nor feel in head or chest Till mellow Death, like some late guest, But when he calls, and thou shalt cease LADY CLARE. IT was the time when lilies blow, I trow they did not part in scorn: Lovers long-betroth'd were they : They two will wed the morrow morn: God's blessing on the day! 'He does not love me for my birth, Nor for my lands so broad and fair; He loves me for my own true worth, And that is well,' said Lady Clare. 'As God's above,' said Alice the nurse, 'I speak the truth: you are my child. 'The old Earl's daughter died at my breast; I speak the truth, as I live by bread! I buried her like my own sweet child, And put my child in her stead.' "Falsely, falsely have ye done, O mother,' she said, if this be true, To keep the best man under the sun So many years from his due.' 'Nay now, my child,' said Alice the nurse, But keep the secret for your life, And all you have will be Lord Ronald's, When you are man and wife.' 'If I'm a beggar born,' she said, 'I will speak out, for I dare not lie. Pull off, pull off, the brooch of gold, And fling the diamond necklace by.' 'Nay now, my child,' said Alice the nurse, But keep the secret all ye can.' She said, 'Not so: but I will know If there be any faith in man.' 'Nay now, what faith?' said Alice the nurse, 'The man will cleave unto his right.' 'And he shall have it,' the lady replied, 'Tho' I should die to-night.' 'Yet give one kiss to your mother dear ! Alas, my child, I sinn'd for thee.' O mother, mother, mother,' she said, 'So strange it seems to me. 'Yet here's a kiss for my mother dear, She clad herself in a russet gown, She was no longer Lady Clare : She went by dale, and she went by down, With a single rose in her hair. The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had brought Leapt up from where she lay, Dropt her head in the maiden's hand, And follow'd her all the way. Down stept Lord Ronald from his tower : 'O Lady Clare, you shame your worth! Why come you drest like a village maid, That are the flower of the earth?' 'If I come drest like a village maid, I am but as my fortunes are: I am a beggar born,' she said, 'And not the Lady Clare.' Play me no tricks,' said Lord Ronald, For I am yours in word and in deed. I'lay me no tricks,' said Lord Ronald, Your riddle is hard to read.' O and proudly stood she up! Her heart within her did not fail : She look'd into Lord Ronald's eyes, And told him all her nurse's tale. He laugh'd a laugh of merry scorn: If you are not the heiress born, If you are not the heiress born, And I,' said he, the lawful heir, We two will wed to-morrow morn, And you shall still be Lady Clare.' THE CAPTAIN. A LEGEND OF THE NAVY. HE that only rules by terror Brave the Captain was: the seamen Gallant sons of English freemen, Sailors bold and true. But they hated his oppression, Wheresoe'er he came. So they past by capes and islands, Far within the South. On a day when they were going In the north, her canvas flowing, Rose a ship of France. Then the Captain's colour heighten'd, Joyful came his speech: But a cloudy gladness lighten'd In the eyes of each. 'Chase,' he said: the ship flew forward, And the wind did blow; Stately, lightly, went she Norward, Then they look'd at him they hated, Had what they desired: Mute with folded arms they waited— But they heard the foeman's thunder Spars were splinter'd, decks were shatter'd, Bullets fell like rain; Over mast and deck were scatter'd Blood and brains of men. Spars were splinter'd; decks were broken: Every mother's son-- Summer woods, about them blowing, Down they dropt-no word was spoken- So she goes by him attended, Each beside his gun. On the decks as they were lying, In their blood, as they lay dying, Those, in whom he had reliance With one smile of still defiance Sold him unto shame. Shame and wrath his heart confounded, Crew and Captain lie; O'er them mouldering, THE LORD OF BURLEIGH. IN her ear he whispers gaily, 'If my heart by signs can tell, Maiden, I have watch'd thee daily, And I think thou lov'st me well.' She replies, in accents fainter, There is none I love like thee.' Presses his without reproof: Little can I give my wife. And I love thee more than life.' They by parks and lodges going See the lordly castles stand: Hears him lovingly converse, Sees whatever fair and splendid Lay betwixt his home and hers; Parks with oak and chestnut shady, Parks and order'd gardens great, Ancient homes of lord and lady, Built for pleasure and for state. He shall have a cheerful home; Till a gateway she discerns Than all those she saw before: Bows before him at the door. 'All of this is mine and thine.' Is so great a lord as he. All at once the colour flushes Her sweet face from brow to chin: As it were with shame she blushes, And her spirit changed within. Then her countenance all over Pale again as death did prove : But he clasp'd her like a lover, And he cheer'd her soul with love. So she strove against her weakness, Tho' at times her spirit sank: Shaped her heart with woman's meekness To all duties of her rank: And a gentle consort made he, And her gentle mind was such That she grew a noble lady, And the people loved her much. But a trouble weigh'd upon her, And perplex'd her, night and morn, With the burthen of an honour Unto which she was not born. Faint she grew, and ever fainter, And she murmur'd, 'Oh, that he Were once more that landscape-painter, Which did win my heart from me!' So she droop'd and droop'd before him, Fading slowly from his side: Three fair children first she bore him, Then before her time she died. Weeping, weeping late and early, Walking up and pacing down, And he look'd at her and said, Bore to earth her body, drest THE VOYAGE. I. WE left behind the painted buoy That tosses at the harbour-mouth; And madly danced our hearts with joy, As fast we fleeted to the South: How fresh was every sight and sound On open main or winding shore! We knew the merry world was round, And we might sail for evermore. II. Warm broke the breeze against the brow, Dry sang the tackle, sang the sail : For blasts would rise and rave and cease, But whence were those that drove the sail Across the whirlwind's heart of peace, And to and thro' the counter gale? XII. Again to colder climes we came, For still we follow'd where she led : Now mate is blind and captain lame, And half the crew are sick or dead, But, blind or lame or sick or sound, We follow that which flies before: We know the merry world is round, And we may sail for evermore. SIR LAUNCELOT AND QUEEN GUINEVERE. A FRAGMENT. LIKE Souls that balance joy and pain, In crystal vapour everywhere From draughts of balmy air. Sometimes the linnet piped his song: Sometimes the throstle whistled strong : Sometimes the sparhawk, wheel'd along, Hush'd all the groves from fear of wrong: By grassy capes with fuller sound Above the teeming ground. Then, in the boyhood of the year, She seem'd a part of joyous Spring |