At eve, within yon studious nook,

I ope my brass-embossed book,

Portray'd with many a holy deed

Of martyrs crown'd with heavenly meed;

Then, as my taper waxes dim,

Chant, ere I sleep, my measured hymn.

* * * * *

Who but would cast his pomp away,

To take my staff and amice grey,

And to the world's tumultuous stage,

Prefer the peaceful Hermitage?

--Warton

Notwithstanding the prescription of the genial hermit, with which his

guest willingly complied, he found it no easy matter to bring the harp

to harmony.

"Methinks, holy father," said he, "the instrument wants one string, and

the rest have been somewhat misused."

"Ay, mark'st thou that?" replied the hermit; "that shows thee a master

of the craft. Wine and wassail," he added, gravely casting up his

eyes--"all the fault of wine and wassail!--I told Allan-a-Dale, the

northern minstrel, that he would damage the harp if he touched it after

the seventh cup, but he would not be controlled--Friend, I drink to thy

successful performance."

So saying, he took off his cup with much gravity, at the same time

shaking his head at the intemperance of the Scottish harper.

The knight in the meantime, had brought the strings into some order,

and after a short prelude, asked his host whether he would choose a

"sirvente" in the language of "oc", or a "lai" in the language of "oui",

or a "virelai", or a ballad in the vulgar English. [23] "A ballad, a ballad," said the hermit, "against all the 'ocs' and 'ouis'

of France. Downright English am I, Sir Knight, and downright English

was my patron St Dunstan, and scorned 'oc' and 'oui', as he would have

scorned the parings of the devil's hoof--downright English alone shall

be sung in this cell."

"I will assay, then," said the knight, "a ballad composed by a Saxon

glee-man, whom I knew in Holy Land."

It speedily appeared, that if the knight was not a complete master of

the minstrel art, his taste for it had at least been cultivated under

the best instructors. Art had taught him to soften the faults of a voice

which had little compass, and was naturally rough rather than mellow,

and, in short, had done all that culture can do in supplying natural

deficiencies. His performance, therefore, might have been termed very

respectable by abler judges than the hermit, especially as the knight

threw into the notes now a degree of spirit, and now of plaintive

enthusiasm, which gave force and energy to the verses which he sung.




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