Page:Pleasant Memories.pdf/49

First saw the light, Catharine! the latest spouse
Of the eighth Tudor's bluff and burly king.
Here did thy childhood share the joyous sports
That well it loves? Or did they quaintly set
The stiff-starched ruff around thy slender neck,
And bid thee sit upright, and not demean
Thy rank and dignity?
                                   Say, didst thou con
Thy horn-book lessons mid those dreary halls,
With their dark wainscot of old British oak?
Or on the broidered arras deftly trace
Some tale of tourney and of regal pomp,
That touched perchance the incipient energy
Of young ambition to become a queen?—
If it were so, methinks that latent pride
Was well rebuked, perchance purged out entire
With euphrasy and rue.
                                   How didst thou dare
To build thy nest where other birds had fallen
So fearfully? If e'er the pictured scenes
Of earlier years stole to thy palace-home,
Pouring their quiet o'er its vexing cares,
The cottage-girl, who watched her father's sheep,
The peaceful peasant singing at his toil,
Meekly content, came there no pang to chase
The fresh bloom from thy cheek?
                                     When in his sleep
The despot murmured sullenly and stern,
Didst thou not tremble, lest in dreams he saw