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Speak, if there be a priest, a man of God, Among you there, and let him presently Approach, and lean a ladder on the shaft, And climbing up into my airy home, Deliver me the blessed sacrament; For by the warning of the Holy Ghost, I prophesy that I shall die to-night, A quarter before twelve.

But thou, O Lord,

Aid all this foolish people; let them take Example, pattern: lead them to thy light.

THE TALKING OAK.

I.

ONCE more the gate behind me falls

Once more before my face

I see the moulder'd Abbey-walls,

That stand within the chace.

;

II.

Beyond the lodge the city lies,

Beneath its drift of smoke ;
And ah! with what delighted eyes
I turn to yonder oak.

III.

For when my passion first began,
Ere that, which in me burn'd,

The love, that makes me thrice a man,
Could hope itself return'd;

IV.

To yonder oak within the field.
I spoke without restraint,
And with a larger faith appeal'd
Than Papist unto Saint.

V.

For oft I talk'd with him apart,
And told him of my choice,
Until he plagiarised a heart,

And answer'd with a voice.

VI.

Tho' what he whisper'd, under Heaven None else could understand;

I found him garrulously given,

A babbler in the land.

VII.

But since I heard him make reply
Is many a weary hour ;

'Twere 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 shelter'd 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,

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

XII.

Ere yet, in scorn of Peter's-pence,
And number'd bead, and shrift,
Bluff Harry broke into the spence,
And turn'd the cowls adrift :

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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;

R

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THE TALKING OAK.

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 shadow'd many a group
Of beauties, that were born

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

XVII.

And, leg and arm with love-knots gay,

About me leap'd and laugh'd

The modish Cupid of the day,

And shrill'd his tinsel shaft.

ง XVIII.

"I swear (and else may insects prick

Each leaf into a gall)

This girl, for whom your heart is sick,

Is three times worth them all ;

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