Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/68

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With golden chinking bezants, then

They’ll run with open arms towards men,

For they—for better or for worse—

Most dearly love a well-lined purse.

Far different once was man’s estate,

But now the world’s degenerate.

How pleasant were earth’s simpler ways

In our progenitors’ first days!

Old legends tell us how the fires

Of love burned bright amongst our sires;

No man called this or that his own,

And lust and rapine nought were known.

While ’dured that glorious golden age,

No man could boast of seigniorage,

No man affected robes of state.

No man e’er craved for delicate

Spiced meats, but simple woodland fruits,

Beech mast, or nuts, or wholesome roots

From out the earth all needs supplied;

While fish and flesh were left aside

As needless, ’mid the coverts wild

Men sought kind Nature’s store of mild

And bloodless food; the wilding vine

Gave berries though they knew not wine,

Apples and pears, and mulberries,

Rich plums and chestnuts, beans and peas,

And herbs and mushrooms from the field,

While valleys, plains, and heights would yield

Due sustenance from day to day.

From ears of corn they rubbed away

The chaff betwixt their palms; they sipped

The brown bees’ store which plenteous dripped