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"Yet here's a kiss for my mother dear,
My mother dear, if this be so,
And lay your hand upon my head,
And bless me, mother, ere I go."

She clad herself in a russet gown,
She was no longer Lady Clare:
She went by dale, and she went by down,
With a single rose in her hair.

The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had brought
Leapt up from where she lay,

Dropt her head in the maiden's hand,
And follow'd her all the way.

Down stept Lord Ronald from his tower:
"O Lady Clare, you shame your worth!
Why come you drest like a village maid,
That are the flower of the Earth?"

"If I come drest like a village maid,
I am but as my fortunes are:
I am a beggar born," she said,
"And not the Lady Clare."

"Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald,
"For I am yours in word and in deed;
Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald,
"Your riddle is hard to read."

O, and proudly stood she up!

Her heart within her did not fail: She look'd into Lord Ronald's eyes, And told him all her nurse's tale.

He laugh'd a laugh of merry scorn;

He turn'd and kiss'd her where she stood:

"If you are not the heiress born,

And I," said he, "the next in blood,-

"If you are not the heiress born,

And I," said he, "the lawful heir, We two will wed to-morrow morn, And you shall still be Lady Clare.'

Lord Tennyson.

THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST.

Little Ellie sits alone

'Mid the beaches of a meadow

By a stream-side on the grass;
And the trees are showering down
Doubles of their leaves in shadow
On her shining hair and face.

She has thrown her bonnet by,
And her feet she has been dipping
In the shallow water's flow:
Now she holds them nakedly
In her hands, all sleek and dripping,
While she rocketh to and fro.

Little Ellie sits alone,

And the smile she softly uses

Fills the silence like a speech,

While she thinks what shall be done,
And the sweetest pleasure chooses
For her future within reach.

Little Ellie in her smile
Chooses "I will have a lover,
Riding on a steed of steeds:
He shall love me without guile,
And to him I will discover

The swan's nest among the reeds.

"And the steed shall be red-roan,
And the lover shall be noble,

With an eye that takes the breath:
And the lute he plays upon
Shall strike ladies into trouble,

As his sword strikes men to death.

"And the steed it shall be shod

All in silver, housed in azure,

And the mane shall swim the wind;

And the hoofs along the sod

Shall flash onward and keep measure,

Till the shepherds look behind.

"But my lover will not prize All the glory that he rides in, When he gazes in my face:

He will say, 'O Love, thine eyes Build the shrine my soul abides in, And I kneel here for thy grace!'

“Then, ay, then he shall kneel low,
With the red-roan steed anear him,
Which shall seem to understand,
Till I answer, 'Rise and go!

For the world must love and fear him
Whom I gift with heart and hand.'

"Then he will arise so pale, I shall feel my own lips tremble With a yes I must not say: Nathless maiden-brave, 'Farewell,' I will utter, and dissemble'Light to-morrow with to-day!'

"Then he 'll ride among the hills
To the wide world past the river,
There to put away all wrong,
To make straight distorted wills,
And to empty the broad quiver
Which the wicked bear along.

"Three times shall a young foot-page Swim the stream and climb the mountain And kneel down beside my feet'Lo, my master sends this gage,

Lady, for thy pity's counting!

What wilt thou exchange for it?'

"And the first time, I will send
A white rosebud for a guerdon;
And the second time, a glove;
But the third time-I may bend
From my pride, and answer-'Pardon,
If he comes to take my love.'

"Then the young foot-page will run,
Then my lover will ride faster,
Till he kneeleth at my knee:
'I am a duke's eldest son,
Thousand serfs do call me master,
But, O Love, I love but thee!'

"He will kiss me on the mouth Then, and lead me as a lover

Through the crowds that praise his deeds: And, when soul-tied by one troth,

Unto him I will discover

That swan's nest among the reeds."

Little Ellie, with her smile

Not yet ended, rose up gayly,

Tied the bonnet, donn'd the shoe, And went homeward, round a mile, Just to see, as she did daily,

What more eggs were with the two.

Pushing through the elm-tree copse,
Winding up the stream, light-hearted,
Where the osier pathway leads,

Past the boughs she stoops-and stops.
Lo, the wild swan had deserted,
And a rat had gnaw'd the reeds!

Ellie went home sad and slow.

If she found the lover ever,

With his red-roan steed of steeds,
Sooth I know not; but I know
She could never show him,—never,
That swan's nest among the reeds!

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

SCENE FROM HENRY THE FOURTH.

Enter King HENRY, NORTHUMBERLAND, Worcester, HOTSPUR, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and others.

King. My blood hath been too cold and temperate, Unapt to stir at these indignities,

As you have found me; for, accordingly,
You tread upon my patience: but be sure

I will from henceforth rather be myself,
Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition.
Wor.

Our House, my sovereign liege, little deserves The scourge of greatness to be used on it;

And that same greatness too which our own hands
Have holp to make so portly.

King. Worcester, get thee gone; for I do see
Danger and disobedience in thine eye:

You were about to speak, my Lord Northumberland.
North.
Yea, my good lord.
Those prisoners in your Highness' name demanded,
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,
Were, as he says, not with such strength denied
As is deliver'd to your Majesty:

Either envy, therefore, or misprision

Is guilty of this fault, and not my son.

Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners.
But, I remember, when the fight was done,
When I was dry with rage and éxtreme toil,
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,
Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly dress'd,
Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin, new reap'd,
Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home:
He was perfumèd like a milliner;

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon

He gave his nose, and took 't away again;

And still he smiled and talk'd;

And, as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.
With many holiday and lady terms

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