VII.

But since I heard him make reply

Is

many a weary hour;

'T were well to question him, and try

If yet he keeps the power.

VIII.

Hail, hidden to the knees in fern,
Broad oak of Sumner-chace,

Whose topmost branches can discern

The roofs of Sumner-place!

IX.

Say thou, whereon I carved her name,

If ever maid or spouse,

As fair as my Olivia, came

To rest beneath thy boughs?

X.

"O Walter, I have sheltered here

Whatever maiden grace

The good old Summers, year by year, Made ripe in Sumner-chace:

XI.

"Old Summers, when the monk was fat,

And, issuing shorn and sleek,

Would twist his girdle tight, and pat
The girls upon the cheek,

XII.

"Ere yet, in scorn of Peter's-pence,
And numbered bead, and shrift,

Bluff Harry broke into the spence,
And turned the cowls adrift:

XIII.

"And I have seen some score of those
Fresh faces, that would thrive
When his man-minded offset rose
To chase the deer at five;

XIV.

"And all that from the town would stroll,
Till that wild wind made work,

In which the gloomy brewer's soul
Went by me, like a stork:

XV.

"The slight she-slips of loyal blood,
And others, passing praise,
Strait-laced, but all-too-full in bud
For puritanic stays:

XVI.

“And I have shadowed many a group

Of beauties, that were born

In teacup-times of hood and hoop,
Or while the patch was worn;

XVII.

"And, leg and arm with love-knots

About me leaped and laughed

The modish Cupid of the day,

And shrilled his tinsel shaft.

gay,

"I swear (and else

XVIII.

may

insects prick

Each leaf into a gall)

This girl, for whom your heart is sick,

Is three times worth them all;

XIX.

"For those and theirs, by Nature's law,

Have faded long ago;

But in these latter springs I saw

Your own Olivia blow,

XX.

"From when she gambolled on the greens,

A baby-germ, to when

The maiden blossoms of her teens

Could number five from ten.

XXI.

"I swear, by leaf, and wind, and rain, (And hear me with thine ears,) That, though I circle in the grain Five hundred rings of years

XXII.

66

Yet, since I first could cast a shade,

Did never creature pass

So slightly, musically made,

So light upon the grass:

O, hide thy knotted knees in fern,

And overlook the chace;

And from thy topmost branch discern
The roofs of Sumner-place.

XXV.

But thou, whereon I carved her name,
That oft hast heard my vows,
Declare when last Olivia came

"O yesterday, you know, the fair Was holden at the town;

Her father left his good arm-chair,

And rode his hunter down.