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41
SONG FOR A SEXAGENARIAN.
The cottage of Monksdale looks gay with its roses;
Esk-Castle looks proud with its ivy-crowned towers:
The Baron of Esk like his ivy was aged;
The Maiden of Monksdale was fresh as her flowers.
Esk-Castle looks proud with its ivy-crowned towers:
The Baron of Esk like his ivy was aged;
The Maiden of Monksdale was fresh as her flowers.
The Peer sought the cot for the sake of its Maiden:
The Maid for his castle the Noble revered;
She smiled when she gazed on the star at his bosom,
But sighed when she glanced at his brow and his beard.
The Maid for his castle the Noble revered;
She smiled when she gazed on the star at his bosom,
But sighed when she glanced at his brow and his beard.
He spoke of his wounds from a little blind Archer;
And vowed that unpitied he could not survive:
The gentle Nymph thought, while she tenderly listened,
She cared not how soon he was buried alive.
And vowed that unpitied he could not survive:
The gentle Nymph thought, while she tenderly listened,
She cared not how soon he was buried alive.
‘O, remember that fruit is maturest in autumn,
And that time mellows wine,’ said the eloquent Sage:
But when winter, thought she, sheds its snow on the temples,
Old wine, not young love, is the cordial of age.
And that time mellows wine,’ said the eloquent Sage:
But when winter, thought she, sheds its snow on the temples,
Old wine, not young love, is the cordial of age.
‘Those towers and their master,’ said he, ‘I surrender
To Beauty's dominion, her smile my reward.’
But the Nymph, who was humble, would fain have consented
To take the old castle without the old Lord.
To Beauty's dominion, her smile my reward.’
But the Nymph, who was humble, would fain have consented
To take the old castle without the old Lord.
Yet o'ercome by his ardour, at last she accepted
The conjugal ring and the sceptre of rule;
And to hide the white hairs of her blooming Adorer
She graced his wise head with the Cap of a Fool.
The conjugal ring and the sceptre of rule;
And to hide the white hairs of her blooming Adorer
She graced his wise head with the Cap of a Fool.
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