XX.

1.

STRANGE, that I felt so gay,
Strange, that I tried to-day
To beguile her melancholy;
The Sultan, as we name him,—
She did not wish to blame him-
But he vext her and perplext her
With his worldly talk and folly:
Was it gentle to reprove her

For stealing out of view

From a little lazy lover

Who but claims her as his due ?

Or for chilling his caresses

By the coldness of her manners,

Nay, the plainness of her dresses?

Now I know her but in two,

Nor can pronounce upon it

If one should ask me whether
The habit, hat, and feather,

Or the frock and gipsy bonnet
Be the neater and completer ;
For nothing can be sweeter

Than maiden Maud in either.

2.

But to morrow, if we live,

Our ponderous squire will give

A grand political dinner

To half the squirelings near;

And Maud will wear her jewels,

And the bird of prey will hover,

And the titmouse hope to win her

With his chirrup at her ear.

3.

A grand political dinner

To the men of many acres,

A gathering of the Tory,

A dinner and then a dance

For the maids and marriage-makers,

And every eye but mine will glance

At Maud in all her glory.

4.

For I am not invited,

But, with the Sultan's pardon,

I am all as well delighted,

For I know her own rose-garden,

And mean to linger in it

Till the dancing will be over;

And then, oh then, come out to me

For a minute, but for a minute,

Come out to your own true lover,

That your true lover may see

Your glory also, and render

All homage to his own darling,

Queen Maud in all her splendour.

XXI.

RIVULET crossing my ground,

And bringing me down from the Hall This garden-rose that I found,

Forgetful of Maud and me,

And lost in trouble and moving round

Here at the head of a tinkling fall,

And trying to pass to the sea;

O Rivulet, born at the Hall,
My Maud has sent it by thee
(If I read her sweet will right)

On a blushing mission to me,

Saying in odour and colour, Ah, be

Among the roses to-night.'