Constantia: or, The Man of Law's Tale, Modernized from Chaucer - Part 11

The Royal Youth in silent wonder stood;
Joy held his voice, and rapture thrill'd his blood:
Around her knees his prostrate arms he threw,
And duteous tears distill'd the grateful dew:
Her son she rais'd, all innocent of ill,
And smiling kist whom soon she meant to kill.

At length the Bride, and all her solemn train,
Past o'er the danger of the Midland main:
The Main is past, but not the danger o'er;
The sea less cruel than the Syrian shore!
Applauding crouds the landed Beauty greet,
And Judah's peers in rich procession meet;
Great was the throng, and splendid the array,
And guards arranging lined the glittering way.
Such were the triumphs of imperial Rome,
When conquest led some darling victor home;
While meeting millions his approach withstand,
And walls, and trees, and clamber'd roofs, are mann'd.

All gem'd in ornaments of curious mode,
Gay in the van, the false Sultana rode;
Oft to her breast she clasp'd the Heavenly Maid,
And wondring oft with cruel gaze survey'd.

Last came the Sultan, royal, hapless youth,
Grace in his form, and in his bosom truth!
The last he came, for timorous love controll'd,
He fear'd, and long'd, and trembled to behold:
A faint salute his faultering voice supplied;
Scarce, " Welcome! O divinely fair! " he cried:
He blush'd, and sigh'd, and gazed with wavering view,
Nor dared to hope the blissful vision true.

Thus onward to a neighbouring town they fared,
In purposed pomp, and regal state prepared;
And here the old maternal fiend invites,
To order'd feasts, and dearly bought delights.
Down sit the guests, triumphing clarions blow,
Drums beat, mirth sings, and brimming goblets flow;
In boundless revel every care is drown'd,
And Clamour shouts, and Freedom laughs around.
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