Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/77

 52 KENDAL.

Bidding thee stand upright, and not demean Thy rank and dignity ?

Say, didst thou con

Thy horn-book lessons mid those dreary halls, With their dark wainscot of old British oak ? Or on the broidered arras deftly trace Some tale of tourney and of regal pomp, That touched perchance the incipient energy Of young ambition to become a queen ? If it were so, methinks that latent pride &quot;Was well rebuked, perchance purged out entire With euphrasy and rue.

How didst thou dare

To build thy nest where other birds had fallen So fearfully ? If e er the pictured scenes Of earlier years stole to thy palace-home, Pouring their quiet o er its vexing cares, Some cottage girl, who watched her father s sheep, Or peaceful peasant singing at his toil, Meekly content, came there no pang to chase The fresh bloom from thy cheek ?

When in his sleep

The despot murmured sullenly and stern, Didst thou not tremble, lest in dreams he saw The axe and scaffold, and would madly wake To blend thy fate with that of Ann Boleyn And hapless Howard ?

True, thy pious soul Had confidence in God, and this upheld In all calamities, and gave thee power

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