For, you see, in the churchyard Jacynth reposes, So, just one stout cloak shall I indue : And then, for a purpose you shall hear presently, I shall go journeying, who but I, pleasantly! 870 880 What's a man's age? He must hurry more, that's all; And arrive one day at the land of the gypsies, And find my lady, or hear the last news of her From some old thief and son of Lucifer, His forehead chapleted green with wreathy hop, And when my Cotnar begins to operate And the tongue of the rogue to run at a proper rate, "You never knew, then, how it all ended, 890 Who still preferred some slim four-year-old 884. What age had Methusalem: the old man forgets his Bible. To the big-boned stock of mighty Berold, And, for strong Cotnar, drank French weak wine, Smooth Jacob still robs homely Esau : Now up, now down, the world's one seesaw. So, I shall find out some snug corner Under a hedge, like Orson the wood-knight, Amen! 910 THE LAST RIDE TOGETHER. I SAID I. Then, dearest, since 'tis so, Since now at length my fate I know, Since nothing all my love avails, Since all, my life seemed meant for, fails, Since this was written and needs must be My whole heart rises up to bless Your name in pride and thankfulness! 906. He also must be such a lady's scorner: he who is such a poor judge of horses and wines. 910. Orson the wood-knight (Fr. ourson, a small bear): twin-brother of Valentine, and son of Bellisant. The brothers were born in a wood near Orleans, and Orson was carried off by a bear, which suckled him with her cubs. When he grew up, he became the terror of France, and was called "The Wild Man of the Forest." Ultimately he was reclaimed by his brother Valentine, overthrew the Green Knight, his rival in love, and married Fezon, daughter of the duke of Savary, in Aquitaine.— Romance of Valentine and Orson (15th cent.). Brewer's 'Reader's Handbook' and 'Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Take back the hope you gave, I claim - And this beside, if you will not blame, 2. My mistress bent that brow of hers; With life or death in the balance: right! St. 1. Browning has no moping melancholy lovers. His lovers generally reflect his own manliness; and when their passion is unrequited, they acknowledge the absolute value of love to their own souls. As Mr. James Thomson, in his Notes on the Genius of Robert Browning, remarks (B. Soc. Papers, Part II., p. 246), “Browning's passion is as intense, noble, and manly as his intellect is profound and subtle, and therefore original. I would especially insist on its manliness, because our present literature abounds in so-called passion which is but half-sincere or wholly insincere sentimentalism, if it be not thinly disguised prurient lust, and in so-called pathos which is maudlin to nauseousness. The great unappreciated poet last cited [George Meredith] has defined passion as noble strength on fire; and this is the true passion of great natures and great poets; while sentimentalism is ignoble weakness dallying with fire; Browning's passion is of utter self-sacrifice, selfannihilation, self-vindicated by its irresistible intensity. So we read it in Time's Revenges, so in the scornful condemnation of the weak lovers in The Statue and the Bust, so in In a Balcony, and Two in the Campagna, with its "Infinite passion and the pain of finite hearts that yearn.' Is the love rejected, unreturned? No weak and mean upbraidings of the beloved, no futile complaints; a solemn resignation to immitigable Fate; intense gratitude for inspiring love to the unloving beloved. So in A Serenade at the Villa; so in One Way of Love, with its "My whole life long I learned to love. This hour my utmost art I prove And speak my passion. - Heaven or Hell? Lose who may-I still can say, Those who win Heaven, blest are they!' So in The Last Ride Together, with its "I said- Then, dearest, since 'tis so,' etc. The blood replenished me again; My last thought was at least not vain : Shall be together, breathe and ride, So, one day more am I deified. Who knows but the world may end to-night? 3. Hush! if you saw some western cloud And moon's and evening-star's at once 4. Then we began to ride. My soul Smoothed itself out, a long-cramped scroll What need to strive with a life awry? Had I said that, had I done this, 5. Fail I alone, in words and deeds? Why, all men strive and who succeeds? Bear up beneath their unsuccess. This present of theirs with the hopeful past! 6. What hand and brain went ever paired? We ride and I see her bosom heave. They scratch his name on the Abbey-stones. Your brains beat into rhythm, you tell You hold things beautiful the best, And pace them in rhyme so, side by side. 'Tis something, nay 'tis much: but then, Have you yourself what's best for men? Are you — poor, sick, old ere your time— Nearer one whit your own sublime Than we who have never turned a rhyme? Sing, riding's a joy! For me, I ride. |