THE PRINCESS: A MEDLEY. PROLOGUE. SIR WALTER VIVIAN all a summer's day A Walter too, with others of our set, Five others we were seven at Vivian-place. And me that morning Walter show'd the house, B Greek, set with busts: from vases in the hall Flowers of all heavens, and lovelier than their names, Grew side by side; and on the pavement lay Carved stones of the Abbey-ruin in the park, Jumbled together; celts and calumets, Claymore and snowshoe, toys in lava, fans Of sandal, amber, ancient rosaries, Laborious orient ivory sphere in sphere, The cursed Malayan crease, and battle-clubs From the isles of palm and higher on the walls, Betwixt the monstrous horns of elk and deer, His own forefathers' arms and armour hung. 6 And this' he said was Hugh's at Agincourt; And that was old Sir Ralph's at Ascalon : A good knight he! we keep a chronicle With all about him '-which he brought, and I Dived in a hoard of tales that dealt with knights |