The Ladye Chace; A Ballad (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1877 Excerpt: ...lips no more to-morrow. And thou, who seemest Love's sweet twin, Unless indeed thou art his daughter, If now thy dreams of love begin, Like rosy light on some clear water, Deem not that he who charms thee first, Though thou hast charmed, will e'er be thine For ever what is earliest nurst, Though brightest, fairest in its shine, Is fleet to perish as the pine, That quick consumes in od'rous blaze; While that which liveth years and days, Like vestal light, undimm'd, undying--Is after-lighted--when decays The fire that was the censer's trying. Then, as with Persian scents perfumed, Or rooms with burning sandal brighten'd, How steady is life's way illumed--How all its gloom and dark enlighten'd '. The Lord that loveth all indeed, Doth never break the bruised reed, But lulleth aye the gale to peace, When Spring hath shorn the lambkin's fleece: Yet that pure flame to mortals given, That seemeth all earth shares with heaven, Is ne'er for us without its tears; And even like our infant years--So bright, but oft so cloudy turning, While we, to learn to live are learning--Ev'n such--ah, not like theirs above--The early dawn of human love " XXIV. When morning o'er her eyelids broke, To such a dawn Elfreda woke: The dawn of love--for Athwold came As speeds the May-fly to the flame, Herself in youth's delightful bloom, The light alluring to consume. Yes, Athwold came--ye know the rest, Young gallants, that have manly breast: Why should I say--he came, he saw, Was conquer'd Change stern Nature's law, That will not brook an acted part, Or bear a mask before the heart, And we may blame him, that he knelt, The maid to woo, her sire to melt, And won her hand--no, not to bring His lovely conquest to the King; But, in the fever of his flame, Her beauty, as his own, to cl...