With that Sir Topaz, hapless youth!
In accents faltering ay for ruth,
Entreats them pity graunt;
For als he been a mister wight
Betrayed by wandering in the night
To tread the circled haunt;
Ah, losel vile," at once they roar : And little skilled of fairie lore!
Thy cause to come, we know: Now has thy kestrel courage fell; And fairies, since a lie you tell, Are free to work thee woe."
Then Will, who bears the whispy fire
To trail the swains among the mire,
The caitiff upward flung;
There, like a tortoise, in a shop,
He dangled from the chamber-top,
Where whilome Edwin hung.
The revel now proceeds apace, Deftly they frisk it o'er the place, They sit, they drink, and eat; The time with frolic mirth beguile, And poor Sir Topaz hangs the while Till all the rout retreat.
By this the stars began to wink,
They shriek, they fly, the tapers sink,
And down y-drops the knight:
For never spell by fairie laid
With strong enchantment bound a glade,
Beyond the length of night.
Chill, dark, alone, adreed, he lay,
Till up the welkin rose the day,
Then deemed the dole was o'er :
But wot ye well his harder lot?
His seely back the bunch had got
Which Edwin lost afore.
This tale a Sibyl-nurse ared;
She softly strok'd my youngling head,
And when the tale was done,
“Thus some are born, my son,” she cries,
"With base impediments to rise,
And some are born with none.
"But virtue can itself advance
To what the favorite fools of chance
By fortune seem designed;
Virtue can gain the odds of Fate,
And from itself shake off the weight
Upon the unworthy mind."
`AR in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a reverend hermit grew: The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell, His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well:
Remote from men, with God he passed the days,
Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise.
A life so sacred, such serene repose,
Seemed heaven itself, till one suggestion rose;
That Vice should triumph, Virtue, Vice obey,
This sprung some doubt of Providence's sway:
His hopes no more a certain prospect boast,
And all the tenor of his soul is lost.
So when a smooth expanse receives imprest
Calm Nature's image on its watery breast,
Down bend the banks, the trees depending grow,
And skies beneath with answering colors glow:
But if a stone the gentle sea divide,
Swift ruffling circles curl on every side,
And glimmering fragments of a broken Sun,
Banks, trees, and skies, in thick disorder run.
To clear this doubt, to know the world by sight,
To find if books, or swains, report it right,
(For yet by swains alone the world he knew,
Whose feet came wandering o'er the nightly dew)
He quits his cell; the pilgrim-staff he bore,
And fixed the scallop in his hat before;
Then with the Sun a rising journey went,
Sedate to think, and watching each event.
The morn was wasted in the pathless grass,
And long and lonesome was the wild to pass;
But when the southern Sun had warmed the day,
A youth came posting o'er a crossing way;
His raiment decent, his complexion fair,
And soft in graceful ringlets waved his hair.
Then near approaching, "Father, hail!" he cried,
"And hail, my son," the reverend sire replied ;
Words followed words, from question answer flowed,
And talk of various kind deceived the road;
Till each with other pleased, and loth to part,
While in their age they differ, join in heart.
Thus stands an aged elm in ivy bound,
Thus youthful ivy clasps an elm around.
Now sunk the Sun; the closing hour of day
Came onward, mantled o'er with sober grey;
Nature in silence bid the world repose;
When near the road a stately palace rose :
There by the Moon through ranks of trees they pass,
Whose verdure crowned their sloping sides of grass.
It chanced the noble master of the dome
Still made his house the wandering stranger's home:
Yet still the kindness, from a thirst of praise,
Proved the vain flourish of expensive ease.
The pair arrive: the liveried servants wait;
Their lord receives them at the pompous gate.
The table groans with costly piles of food,
And all is more than hospitably good.
Then led to rest, the day's long toil they drown,
Deep sunk in sleep, and silk, and heaps of down.
At length 'tis morn, and at the dawn of day,
Along the wide canals the zephyrs play :
Fresh o'er the gay parterres the breezes creep,
And shake the neighboring wood to banish sleep.
Up rise the guests, obedient to the call:
An early banquet decked the splendid hall:
Rich luscious wine a golden goblet graced,
Which the kind master forced the guests to taste.
Then, pleased and thankful from the porch they go ;
And, but the landlord, none had cause of woe:
His cup was vanished; for in secret guise
The younger guest purloined the glittering prize.
As one who spies a serpent in his way,
Glistening and basking in the summer ray,
Disordered stops to shun the danger near,
Then walks with faintness on, and looks with fear;
So seemed the sire; when far upon the road,
The shining spoil his wily partner showed.
He stopped with silence, walked with trembling heart,
And much he wished, but durst not ask to part:
Murmuring he lifts his eyes, and thinks it hard,
That generous actions meet a base reward.
While thus they pass, the Sun his glory shrouds, The changing skies hang out their sable clouds; A sound in air presaged approaching rain, And beasts to covert scud across the plain. Warned by the signs the wandering pair retreat, To seek for shelter at a neighboring seat. 'Twas built with turrets on a rising ground, And strong, and large, and unimproved around; Its owner's temper, timorous and severe, Unkind and griping, caused a desert there.
As near the miser's heavy doors they drew, Fierce rising gusts with sudden fury blew; The nimble lightning mixed with showers began, And o'er their heads loud rolling thunders ran. Here long they knock, but knock or call in vain, Driven by the wind, and battered by the rain. At length some pity warmed the master's breast, ('Twas then his threshold first received a guest); Slow creaking turns the door with jealous care, And half he welcomes in the shivering pair: One frugal fagot lights the naked walls, And Nature's fervor through their limbs recalls: Bread of the coarsest sort, with meager wine, (Each hardly granted) served them both to dine; And when the tempest first appeared to cease, A ready warning bid them part in peace.
With still remark the pondering hermit viewed, In one so rich, a life so poor and rude;
And why should such," within himself he cried, "Lock the lost wealth a thousand want beside?" But what new marks of wonder soon take place, In every settling feature of his face,
When from his vest the young companion bore
That cup, the generous landlord owned before,
And paid profusely with the precious bowl
The stinted kindness of this churlish soul!
But now the clouds in airy tumult fly !
The Sun, emerging, opes an azure sky ;
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