angels, far apart From wicked men like thee. Go, go!?I deem
Thou canst not surely be the same that thou didst seem.'
17
145 'I will not harm her, by all saints I swear,' Quoth Porphyro: 'O may I ne'er find grace When my weak voice shall whisper its last prayer, If one of her soft ringlets I displace, Or look with ruffian passion in her face:
150 Good Angela, believe me by these tears; Or I will, even in a moment's space, Awake, with horrid shout, my foemen's ears,
And beard0 them, though they be more fang'd than wolves and confront bears.'
18
'Ah! why wilt thou affright a feeble soul?
155 A poor, weak, palsy-stricken, churchyard thing, Whose passing-bell0 may ere the midnight toll; death knell Whose prayers for thee, each morn and evening, Were never miss'd.'?Thus plaining,0 doth she bring complaining A gentler speech from burning Porphyro;
160 So woful, and of such deep sorrowing, That Angela gives promise she will do Whatever he shall wish, betide her weal or woe.4
19 Which was, to lead him, in close secrecy, Even to Madeline's chamber, and there hide
165 Him in a closet, of such privacy That he might see her beauty unespied, And win perhaps that night a peerless bride, While legion'd fairies pac'd the coverlet,
4. I.e., whether good or ill befalls her.
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THE EVE OF ST. AGNES / 893
And pale enchantment held her sleepy-eyed. i7o Never on such a night have lovers met, Since Merlin paid his Demon all the monstrous debt.5
20
'It shall be as thou wishest,' said the Dame: 'All cates? and dainties shall be stored there delicacies Quickly on this feast-night: by the tambour frame6
175 Her own lute thou wilt see: no time to spare, For I am slow and feeble, and scarce dare On such a catering trust my dizzy head. Wait here, my child, with patience; kneel in prayer The while: Ah! thou must needs the lady wed,
lso Or may I never leave my grave among the dead.'
21
So saying, she hobbled off with busy fear. The lover's endless minutes slowly pass'd; The dame return'd, and whisper'd in his ear To follow her; with aged eyes aghast
185 From fright of dim espial. Safe at last, Through many a dusky gallery, they gain The maiden's chamber, silken, hush'd, and chaste; Where Porphyro took covert, pleas'd amain.0 mightily
His poor guide hurried back with agues0 in her brain. shivering
22
190 Her falt'ring hand upon the balustrade, Old Angela was feeling for the stair, When Madeline, St. Agnes' charmed maid, Rose, like a mission'd spirit,7 unaware: With silver taper's light, and pious care,
195 She turn'd, and down the aged gossip led To a safe level matting. Now prepare, Young Porphyro, for gazing on that bed;
She comes, she comes again, like ring-dove fray'd0 and fled. frightened
Out went the taper as she hurried in;
200 Its little smoke, in pallid moonshine, died: She clos'd the door, she panted, all akin To spirits of the air, and visions wide: No uttered syllable, or, woe betide! But to her heart, her heart was voluble,
205 Paining with eloquence her balmy side; As though a tongueless nightingale8 should swell Her throat in vain, and die, heart-stifled, in her dell.
5. Probably the episode in the Arthurian legends ter's husband. He cut out Philomel's tongue to in which Merlin, the magician, lost his life when prevent her from speaking of his crime, but she the wily Vivien turned one of his own spells against managed to weave her story and make herself him. understood to her sister, Procne. Just as Tereus 6. A drum-shaped embroidery frame. was about to kill both women, Philomel and 7. I.e., like an angel sent on a mission. Procne were metamorphosed into a nightingale 8. An allusion to Ovid's story, in the Metamorpho-and a swallow. ses, of Philomel, who was raped by Tereus, her sis
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89 4 / JOHN KEATS
24
A casement0 high and triple-arch'd there was, windmv All garlanded with carven imag'ries
210 Of fruits, and flowers, and bunches of knot-grass, And diamonded with panes of quaint device, Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes, As are the tiger-moth's deep-damask'd wings; And in the midst, 'mong thousand heraldries,
215 And twilight saints, and dim emblazonings, A shielded scutcheon blush'd with blood of queens and kings.9
