His daughter and his housemaid were the boys:
The land, he understood, for miles about
Was till'd by women; all the swine were sows,
And all the dogs "-

But while he jested thus,

A thought flashed thro' me which I clothed in act,
Remembering how we three presented Maid
Or Nymph, or Goddess, at high tide of feast,
In masque or pageant at my father's court.
We sent mine host to purchase female gear;
He brought it, and himself, a sight to shake
The midriff of despair with laughter, holp
To lace us up, till, each, in maiden plumes
We rustled him we gave a costly bribe
To guerdon silence, mounted our good steeds,
And boldly ventured on the liberties.

:

We follow'd up the river as we rode,

190

195

200

And rode till midnight when the college lights
Began to glitter firefly-like in copse
And linden alley: then we past an arch,
Whereon a woman-statue rose with wings
From four wing'd horses dark against the stars ;
And some inscription ran along the front,
But deep in shadow: further on we gain'd
A little street half garden and half house;
But scarce could hear each other speak for noise
Of clocks and chimes, like silver hammers falling
On silver anvils, and the splash and stir
Of fountains spouted up and showering down
In meshes of the jasmine and the rose:
And all about us peal'd the nightingale,
Rapt in her song, and careless of the snare.

205

210

215

197-200. 1847-48 :—

Which brought and clapt upon us, we tweezer'd out
What slender blossom lived on lip or cheek
Of manhood, gave mine host a costly bribe, etc.

203. Not introduced till 1851.

204. 1847-50. We rode.

206. 1847-48. and then.

207-9. Added in 1850.

210. 1847-48. Inscribed too dark for legible, and gain'd. 212. 1847-48. But could not hear.

There stood a bust of Pallas for a sign,

By two sphere lamps blazon'd like Heaven and

Earth

With constellation and with continent,
Above an entry: riding in, we call'd;

A plump-arm'd Ostleress and a stable wench
Came running at the call, and help'd us down.
Then stept a buxom hostess forth, and sail'd,
Full-blown, before us into rooms which gave
Upon a pillar'd porch, the bases lost

In laurel her we ask'd of that and this,

:

And who were tutors. "Lady Blanche” she said,
"And Lady Psyche." "Which was prettiest,
Best-natured?" "Lady Psyche."

we."

220

225

230

"Hers are

One voice, we cried; and I sat down and wrote,

In such a hand as when a field of corn

Bows all its ears before the roaring East;

"Three ladies of the Northern empire pray Your Highness would enroll them with your own, As Lady Psyche's pupils."

This I seal'd:

The seal was Cupid bent above a scroll,

235

And o'er his head Uranian Venus hung,

And raised the blinding bandage from his eyes :

240

I gave the letter to be sent with dawn;

And then to bed, where half in doze I seem'd

222. 1847-48. archway.

226. Tennyson seems fond of this Gallicism (donner sur); cf. The Gardener's Daughter,

and Gareth and Lynette,

This, yielding, gave into a grassy walk,

Two great entries

(As when the west wind tosses a deep cornfield, rushing down with furious blast).

238-41. 1847-48. (A Cupid reading) to be sent with dawn.

239. 1850. And over him.

For the best commentary on this, see the

speech of Pausanias in Plato's Symposium, pp. 180-88.

To float about a glimmering night, and watch
A full sea glazed with muffled moonlight, swell
On some dark shore just seen that it was rich.

245

244. Tennyson, in his letter to Mr. Dawson, says that this was suggested to him by "the sea one night at Torquay, when Torquay was the most lovely sea-village in England, tho' now a smoky town. The sky was covered with

thin vapour, and the moon behind it" (Life, i. 257).

1

3

4

As thro' the land at eve we went,
And pluck'd the ripen'd ears,

We fell out, my wife and I,
O we fell out I know not why,
And kiss'd again with tears.
And blessings on the falling out
That all the more endears,

When we fall out with those we love

And kiss again with tears'! ***

For when we came where lies the child
We lost in other years,

There above the little grave,

O there above the little grave,
We kiss'd again with tears.

This song was added in 1850, but the fourth and thirteenth lines were added in 1851; lines 6-9 inclusive were omitted after 1850, and not reinserted till 1867.

The lilac, with a silken hood to each,

II

AT break of day the College Portress came:
She brought us Academic silks, in hue

And zoned with gold; and now when these were on,

And we as rich as moths from dusk cocoons,

5

She, curtseying her obeisance, let us know
The Princess Ida waited: out we paced,

I first, and following thro' the porch that sang

All round with laurel, issued in a court

Compact of lucid marbles, boss'd with lengths

10

Of classic frieze, with ample awnings gay

Betwixt the pillars, and with great urns of flowers.

The Muses and the Graces, group'd in threes,

Enring'd a billowing fountain in the midst;

And here and there on lattice edges lay
Or book or lute; but hastily we past,
And up a flight of stairs into the hall.

15

There at a board by tome and paper sat,

With two tame leopards couch'd beside her throne,

All beauty compass'd in a female form,

20

The Princess; liker to the inhabitant

Of some clear planet close upon the Sun,

Than our man's earth; such eyes were in her head,

And so much grace and power, breathing down

From over her arch'd brows, with every turn
Lived thro' her to the tips of her long hands,

25

And to her feet. She rose her height, and said:

"We give you welcome: not without redound Of use and glory to yourselves ye come,

II

29. 1847-48. Of fame and profit unto yourselves.