20
THE PRINCESS;
Many a long league back to the North, we came,
When the first forn-owl whirr'd about the copse,
Upon a little town within a wood
Close at the boundary of the liberties;
There entering in an hostel call'd mine host
To council, plied him with his richest wines,
And show'd the late-writ letters of the king.
When the first forn-owl whirr'd about the copse,
Upon a little town within a wood
Close at the boundary of the liberties;
There entering in an hostel call'd mine host
To council, plied him with his richest wines,
And show'd the late-writ letters of the king.
He, with a long low sibilation, stared
As blank as death in marble; then exclaim'd
Averring it was clear against all rules
For any man to go: but as his brain
Began to mellow, 'If the king,' he said,
'Had given us letters, was he bound to speak?
The king would bear him out;' and at the last—
The summer of the vine in all his veins—
'No doubt that we might make it worth his while.
For him, he reverenced his liege-lady there;
He always made a point to post with mares;
His daughter and his housemaid were the boys.
As blank as death in marble; then exclaim'd
Averring it was clear against all rules
For any man to go: but as his brain
Began to mellow, 'If the king,' he said,
'Had given us letters, was he bound to speak?
The king would bear him out;' and at the last—
The summer of the vine in all his veins—
'No doubt that we might make it worth his while.
For him, he reverenced his liege-lady there;
He always made a point to post with mares;
His daughter and his housemaid were the boys.
