THE FOSTER-MOTHER'S TALE, A DRAMATIC FRAGMENT.
And the young man escaped.
MARIA.
Soon after they arrived in that new world,
With earth and water, on the stumps of trees.
Which props the hanging wall of the old chapel?
Such as would lull a listening child to sleep,
With lusty arm. You know that huge round beam
His love grew desperate; and defying death,
Lived chie?y at the Convent or the Castle.
And so the babe grew up a pretty boy,
He soon could write with the pen: and from that time,
I never saw the man whom you describe.
FOSTER-MOTHER.
As hang on brambles. Well, he brought him home,
He went on ship-board
The boy loved him--and, when the Friar taught 九_九_藏_书_网him,
To hunt for food, and be a naked man,
And what became of him?
And once as he was working in the cellar,
Went likewise, and when he returned to Spain,
That the wall tottered, and had well-nigh fallen
He told Leoni, that the poor mad youth,
FOSTER-MOTHER.
FOSTER-MOTHER.
FOSTER-MOTHER
Of golden lands. Leonis younger brother
A grey-haired man--he loved this little boy,
Tis more like heaven to come than what _has_ been.
And never learnt a prayer, nor told a bead,
He lived and died among the savage men.
She gazes idly!--But that entrance, Mother!
Tis a sweet tale:
A Friar, who g99lib•netathered simples in the wood,
How sweet it were on lake or wild savannah,
A pretty boy, but most unteachable--
They stood together, chained in deep discourse,
Now blessings on the man, whoeer he be,
And once, as by the north side of the Chapel
Up a great river, great as any sea,
But yet his speech, it was so soft and sweet,
And whistled, as he were a bird himself:
Of all the heretical and lawless talk
His rosy face besoiled with unwiped tears.--
Right on their heads. My Lord was sorely frightened;
He always doted on the youth, and now
He heard a voice distinctly; twas the youths,
To get the seeds of wi99lib•netld ?owers, and to plant them
And neer was heard of more: but tis supposed,
When you two little ones would stand at eve
And reared him at the then Lord Velez cost.
In gentle phrase, then bid me sing to you--
Can no one hear? It is a perilous tale!
And cast into that hole. My husbands father
On each side of my chair, and make me learn
Sobbed like a child--it almost broke his heart:
Poor old Leoni!--Angels rest his soul!
And though he prayed, he never loved to pray
Till lost in inward vision, with wet eye
Till his brain turned--and ere his twentieth year,
MARIA.
The earth heaved under them with such a groan,
Bwww.99lib.neteneath that tree, while yet it was a tree
Troubled with wilder fancies, than the moon
The late Lord Velez neer was wearied with him.
Which brought this judgment: so the youth was seized
In spite of his dissuasion, seized a boat,
FOSTER-MOTHER.
My husbands father told it me,
And wander up and down at liberty.
As mine and Alberts common Foster-mother.
That joined your names with mine! O my sweet lady,
But Oh! poor wretch!--he read, and read, and read,
But knew the names of birds, and mocked their notes,
All you had learnt in the day; and how to talk
He found a baby wrapt in mosses, lined
He had unlawful thoughts o九九藏书网f many things:
He was a woodman, and could fell and saw
MARIA.
He made that cunning entrance I described:
A fever seized him, and he made confession
O my dear Mother! this strange man has left me
With those bold voyagers, who made discovery
Who sung a doleful song about green ?elds,
Tis strange! he spake of you familiarly
MARIA.
No one.
With holy men, nor in a holy place--
And all the autumn twas his only play
And all alone, set sail by silent moonlight
With thistle-beards, and such small locks of wool
Breeds in the love-sick maid who gazes at it,
As often as I think of those dear times
So he became a very learned youth.