least, the inconvenient effects of one of these appointments was too soon apparent in the reciprocal attachment that grew up between the poet and his fair charge. The precise nature of Ivor’s conduct towards the former on the discovery of this circumstance is not known; but he appears to have treated him with an indulgence which his own regard for the enamoured tutor could alone explain. He is recorded, however, to have been somewhat severe in the treatment of his daughter, whom he forthwith conveyed to a convent in the island of Anglesea. Thither she was followed by her devoted swain, who, in the humble capacity of a servant at a neighbouring monastery, consoled himself during his hours of disappointed love by offering to his mistress the tributes of his muse, all he had then to bestow; and several poems of considerable beauty are still extant, which he may be supposed to have written during this period.
THE BARD SENDS A LOVE MESSENGER TO LURE THE NUN[1] TO THE GROVE.
True messenger of love—away!
And from the Marches bring in May.
Thou truant! thou wert not at hand
When most the bard in need did stand
Of thy tame wings! Oh seek, once more,
The place thou visitedst of yore.
Thou of fair form and flight sublime,
Visit the damsels white as lime!
- ↑ It seems most probable that she had not actually become a nun, but was merely an inmate in the nunnery.
