16
THE PRINCESS;
Or, maybe, I myself, my bride once seen,
Whate'er my grief to find her less than fame,
May rue the bargain made.' And Florian said:
'I have a sister at the foreign court,
Who moves about the Princess; she, you know,
Who wedded with a nobleman from thence:
He, dying lately, left her, as I hear,
The lady of three castles in that land.
Thro' her this matter might be sifted clean.'
Then whisper'd Cyril: 'Take me with you too.
Trust me, I'll serve you better in a strait;
I grate on rusty hinges here;' but 'No!'
Replied the king, 'you shall not; I myself
Will crush these pretty maiden fancies dead
In iron gauntlets: break the council up.'
Whate'er my grief to find her less than fame,
May rue the bargain made.' And Florian said:
'I have a sister at the foreign court,
Who moves about the Princess; she, you know,
Who wedded with a nobleman from thence:
He, dying lately, left her, as I hear,
The lady of three castles in that land.
Thro' her this matter might be sifted clean.'
Then whisper'd Cyril: 'Take me with you too.
Trust me, I'll serve you better in a strait;
I grate on rusty hinges here;' but 'No!'
Replied the king, 'you shall not; I myself
Will crush these pretty maiden fancies dead
In iron gauntlets: break the council up.'
But when the council broke, I rose and past
Thro' the wild woods that hung about the town;
Found a still place, and pluck'd her likeness out;
Laid it on flowers, and watch'd it lying bathed
Thro' the wild woods that hung about the town;
Found a still place, and pluck'd her likeness out;
Laid it on flowers, and watch'd it lying bathed
