Forth now! This taught thee, little else to learn!" "Intuitively, may we ask unblamed What from this pimple you prognosticate?" 10 And forth he went. Folk heard him ask "Death!" was the answer, as he saw and 44 Had done some service. Since you have 50 "One day, one hour ago, perchance my art Chosen - before the horse yourselves cart, to put the "Why, Sirs, the sooner that the sexton delves Your patient's grave, the better! How you stare -Shallow, for all the deep books on your shelves! "Fare you well, fumblers!” declare Do I need What name and fame, what riches recom- Such an adept as daily evidenced Like dolts who dallied with their scruples, 60 fenced With subterfuge, nor gave out frank and free Something decisive! If he said "I save The patient," saved he was: if "Death will be "His portion," you might count him dead. Thus brave, Behold our worthy, sans competitor Throughout the country, on the architrave Of who stands sentry by the head. All's lost. "Sire, nought avails my art: you near the goal, And end the race by giving up the ghost." "How?" cried the monarch: "Names upon your roll - 20 Of half my subjects rescued by your skill Why else am I earth's foremost potentate? "Of gold that point admits of no debate Gold, till your gown's pouch cracks beneath the weight!" This touched the Doctor. "Truly a home-thrust, Parent, you vill not parry! Have I dared 30 Entreat that you forego the meal of dust Man that is snake's meat - when I saw prepared Your daily portion? Never! Just this "Does love allure thee? Well then, take as bride My only daughter, fair beyond belief! Save me - - to-morrow shall the knot be tied!" "Father, you hear him! Respite ne'er so brief Is all I beg: go now and come again Next day, for aught I care: respect the grief "Mine will be if thy first-born sues in vain !" "Fool, I must have my prey!" was all he g got In answer. But a fancy crossed his brain. "I have it! Sire, methinks a meteor shot Just now across the heavens and neutralised Jove's salutary influence: 'neath the blot "Plumb are you placed now: well that I surmised The cause of failure! Knaves, reverse the bed!" "Stay!" groaned the monarch, "I shall be capsized more as The Doctor gazed, then "Yet one trial Is left me" inwardly he uttered. "Shame Upon thy flinty heart! Do I implore "This trifling favour in the idle name Of mercy to the moribund? I plead The cause of all thou dost affect: my aim Turns marble to the touch of who would But what means this? The downy loose swathes combine, Conglobe, the smothery coy-caressing stuff Curdles about her! Vain each twist and 44 twine Those lithe limbs try, encroached on by a fluff Fitting as close as fits the dented spine Till she is swallowed by the feathery springe. As when a pearl slips lost in the thin foam Churned on a sea-shore, and, o'er-frothed, conceits Herself safe-housed ir. Amphitrite's dome, If, through the bladdery wave-worked yeast, she meets What most she loathes and leaps from, — 50 elf from gnome No gladlier, finds that safest of retreats So lay this Maid-Moon clasped around By rough red Pan, the god of all that tract: and caught He it was schemed the snare thus subtly wrought With simulated earth-breath, -wooltufts packed Into a billowy wrappage. Sheep farsought For spotless shearings yield such: take the fact As learned Virgil gives it, breed how the 60 From tinge on fleece, should still display a tongue Black 'neath the beast's moist palate, prompt men baulk The propagating plague: he gets no young: They rather slay him, - sell his hide to caulk Ships with, first steeped in pitch, nor hands are wrung In sorrow for his fate: protected thus, So did Girl-moon, by just her attribute Of unmatched modesty betrayed, lie trapped, Bruised to the breast of Pan, half-god half-brute, Raked by his bristly boar-sward while he lapped 70 |