35

40

45

"But why do I talk of Death?
That phantom* of grisly bone,
I hardly fear his terrible shape,
It seems so like my own-
It seems so like my own,
Because of the fasts I keep;

O God! that bread should be so dear,
And flesh and blood so cheap!

"Work-work--work!

My labour never flags;

And what are its wages? A bed of straw,
A crust of bread-and rags.

That shattered roof,-and this naked floor,-
A table,-a broken chair,-

And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there!

"Work-work-work!

From weary chime to chime,*
Work-work-work-

50

Phantom, ghost, apparition.

Chime to chime, from

one hour to another.

Benumbed, stupified.

Twit, mock.

A respite, &c., to cease from her labour but for a short time. Leisure, spare time.

EDMUND SPENSER (1553-1599) was born in London, and educated at Cambridge. He is one of the greatest English poets; his chief work is the Faerie Queene, an allegorical poem, designed to celebrate the principal virtues. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Dight, adorned.

Paramours, mates, loves.

Stours, encounters, battles.

Gilt morion, a gilded

helmet, having no visor, copied from

the Moors by the Spaniards.

A garland, &c., a garland fair to see. Chauffed (chafed), heated, made hot by rubbing.

Libbard, leopard.

So forth issued the Seasons of the year;

First lusty Spring, all dight* in leaves and flowers
That freshly budded, and new blossoms did bear,
In which a thousand birds had built their bowers,
That sweetly sung to call forth paramours;
And in his hand a javelin he did bear,
And on his head (as fit for warlike stours)
That as some did him love, so others did him fear.
A gilt engraven morion* he did wear,

*

Then came the jolly Summer, being dight
In a thin silken cassock coloured green
That was unlinèd all, to be more light,
And on his head a garland * well beseen
He from which, as he had chauffèd * been,
The sweat did drop, and in his hand he bore
A bow and shaft, as he in forest green

wore,

Had hunted late the libbard or the boar,
And now would bathe his limbs, with labour
heated sore.

Then came the Autumn, all in yellow clad,
As though he joyèd in his plenteous store,
Laden with fruits that made him laugh, full glad
That he had banished Hunger, which tofore

5

ΙΟ

15

20

Had by the belly oft him pinchèd sore;
Upon his head a wreath, that was enrolled
25 With ears of corn of every sort, he bore,
And in his hand a sickle he did hold,

To reap the ripened fruits the which the earth
had yold.

*

Fold, yielded.

Frize, a coarse kind of cloth, with nap on one side of it.

Bill, nose.

Limbeck, a vessel used in distilling.

Lastly came Winter, clothed all in frize,* Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill, 30 Whilst on his hoary beard his breath did freeze, And the dull drops that from his purpled bill As from a limbeck * did adown distil; In his right hand a tippèd staff he held, With which his feeble steps he stayed still, 35 For he was faint with cold and weak with eld * That scarce his loosed limbs he able was to Weld, to use, to weld.*

Eld, old age.

manage.

5

10

THE SPANISH CHAMPION.*—Mrs. Hemans.

THE warrior bowed his crested head, and tamed

his heart of fire,

*

*

And sued the haughty king to free his long-
imprisoned sire:

I bring thee here my fortress keys, I bring
my captive train;

I pledge my faith, my liege, my lord-oh!
break my father's chain."

"Rise! rise! even now thy father comes, a

*

ransomed man this day;

Mount thy good steed, and thou and I will
meet him on his way:'

Then lightly rose that loyal son, and bounded
on his steed ;

And urged, as if with lance in hand, his
charger's foaming speed.

And lo! from far, as on they pressed, there

came a glittering * band,

With one that 'mid them stately rode, as a
leader in the land:

"Now haste, Bernardo, haste! for there, in
very truth, is he,

The father-whom thy grateful heart hath

Sued, begged, im

plored.
Haughty, proud.
His long-imprisoned
sire, Don Sancho,
Count Saldana of
Spain, had been kept

in prison for many
years by the king.
At length his son,
Bernardo del Carpio,
took up arms to effect

his release.

Captive train, the prisoners taken in battle.

Liege, submission, that he would become

his faithful subject.

Ransomed, redeemed, saved.

Glittering, bright, beautiful to behold.

Yearned, desired very much.

* Champion, a hero, one who fights in single combat for himself or for another.

His dark eye flashed, his proud breast heaved, his cheek's
blood came and went;

He reached that grey-haired chieftain's side, and there
dismounting bent:

A lowly knee to earth he bent, his father's hand he 15
took ;-

What was there in its touch that all his fiery spirit

shook?

That hand was cold, a frozen thing-it dropped from his
like lead;

He looked up to the face above-the face was of the
The dead, in
dead; *

was placed

on horseback

by command

A plume waved o'er that noble brow-the brow was
fixed and white;

He met at length his father's eyes, but in them was no

sight!

of the king. Up from the ground he sprang, and gazed; but who can

Renown, a great name, celebrity.

Falchion, a short curved sword,

Wildered, astonished, surprised.

Courtier, a

person who

lives at court.

paint that gaze?

They hushed their very hearts who saw its horror and

amaze:

They might have chained him, as before that noble form

he stood;

For the power was stricken from his arm, and from his
cheek the blood.

20

"Father!" at length he murmured low, and wept like 25 childhood then

(Talk not of grief till thou hast seen the tears of warlike

men-)

He thought on all his glorious hopes, on all his high

Then flung the falchion * from his side, and in the dust
sat down;

And, covering with his steel-gloved hand his darkly

mournful brow,

"No more, there is no more," he said, " to lift the sword 30

for now;

My king is false ! my hope betrayed! my father-oh!

the worth,

The glory, and the loveliness, are passed away from
earth!"

Up from the ground he sprang once more, and seized the
monarch's rein

Amid the pale and wildered * looks of all the courtier *

train;

35 And with a fierce, o'ermastering grasp, the rearing war

horse led,

And sternly set them face to face-the king before the

dead!

"Came I not forth upon thy pledge,* my father's hand Pledge, pro-
to kiss?

Be still, and gaze thou on, false king! and tell me what
is this?

The voice, the glance, the heart I sought-give answer,
where are they?

*

40 If thou wouldst clear thy perjured soul, send life
through this cold clay !

"Into these glassy eyes put light-be still, keep down
thine ire! *.

Bid these white lips a blessing speak-this earth is not
my sire!

Give me back him for whom I strove, for whom my
blood was shed!

Thou canst not?—and, O king! his dust be mountains
on thy head!"

45 He loosed the steed-his slack hand fell; upon the
silent face

He cast one long, deep, troubled look, then turned from
that sad place :

His hope was crushed-his after-fate untold in martial
strain-

His banner led the spears no more amidst the hills of
Spain !

mise.

Perjurer,

one who knowingly takes a false

oath.

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM

GHENT TO AIX.-R. Browning.

ROBERT BROWNING (1812- ), born at Camberwell, and educated at London University, ranks among the foremost of living poets. He possesses a wonderful power of condensed expression, and his writings are deeply thoughtful and expressive. Chief works: Men and Women, The Ring and the Book, Dramatic Lyrics, and other poems.

I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he ;

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three ;
"Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts

undrew;

"Speed !" echoed * the wall to us galloping through;

Echo, to send

back a sound.

*Ghent, the chief town of East Flanders, in Belgium. Aix-la-Chapelle, a city in Rhenish Prussia. The two towns are more than a hundred miles apart.