XXXII
This tells how Jealousy, by spite
Urged on, a towering prison dight
Amidst the precinct, wherein she
Immured Fair-Welcome, for that he
Had let the Lover's lips once press
The Rose, through courteous kindliness.
The Author.
Jealousy builds a tower
And now behoveth me to tell
How Jealousy, beneath the spell3980
Of dark suspicious promptings, wrought.
Through all the country-side she sought
Masons and engineers, who made
A wide deep moat, with pick and spade,
Which many a penny cost to dig,
And there beside they raised a big
Thick towering wall of solid stone;
No marsh or bog it stood upon,
But firm and solid rock. It went
Within the moat by sheer descent,3990
And then rose upwards towards the sky
With ’minished breadth, and gained thereby
Great strength and firmness. Well was set
The wall in perfect square, and met
Each side of equal length, which ran
Well-nigh a hundred fathoms span.
Embattled towers, of stone well hewed,
Rose at the corners, each indued
With portal strong, which might defy
The assault of fiercest enemy;4000
