Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/252

To visit it with gentle breath,
And lull those blasts that tell of death.
Both bright and drear One half the house stands high and straight,
The other poor and desolate;
And thus it seems as though it hung
Ready ere long to fall among
The rocks beneath.
One part so fair
And glorious looks, that man hath ne’er
Seen nobler mansion; walls and roof
Are wrought of one same warp and woof:6440
Silver and gold, with gems beset
Resplendent, (whence men oft-times get
Great virtue), never mortal eye
Saw palace built more gorgeously.
The other part is raised of mud
Commingled with decaying wood;
Thin fragile walls with many a flaw,
And broken roof of mouldering straw.
And thus, while scarce can words express
The symmetry and gorgeousness6450
That one side shows, the other mean
And rotten looks, within it seen
Five hundred thousand cracks and gaps
Betwixt the worthless bits and scraps
Whereof ’tis built, and to its base
It tottereth, as in parlous case.

Within this mansion, bright and drear,
Dame Fortune makes from year to year
Her home.
Whene’er she hath desire
The minds of mortals to inspire6460