AN EXCELLENT BALLAD OF CHARITY.
"From Virgo did the sun diffuse his sheen,
And hot upon the meads did cast his ray;
Red grew the apple from its paly green,
And the soft pear did bend the leafy spray;
The piéd goldfinch sung the livelong day:
'Twas now the pride, the manhood of the year,
And eke the ground was dight in its most deft aumere.[15]
"The sun was gleaming in the midst of day,
Dead still the air, and eke the welkin blue,
When from the sea arose in drear array
A heap of clouds of sable, sullen hue;
The which full fast unto the woodlands drew,
Hiding at once the sun's rejoicing face,
And the black tempest swelled and gathered up apace.
"Beneath an holm fast by a pathway side,
Which did unto St. Godwin's convent lead,
A hapless pilgrim moaning did abide;
In aspect poor, and wretched in his weed.
Long filléd with the miseries of need,
Where from the hailstone could the almer[16] fly?
He had no house at hand, nor any convent nigh.
"Look in his glooméd face, his sprite there scan;
How woe-begone, how withered, dry, and dead!
Haste to thy church-glebe-house,[17] unhappy man!
Haste to thy coffin, thy sole sleeping bed.
Cold as the clay which will lie on thy head
Is charity and love among high elves;
Now knights and barons live for pleasure and themselves.
"The gathered storm is rife; the big drops fall;
The sun-burned meadows smoke and drink the rain;
The coming ghastness[18] doth the cattle 'pall,
And the full flocks are driving o'er the plain.
Dashed from the clouds, the waters fly again;
The welkin opes; the yellow levin flies,
And the hot, fiery stream in the wide flashing dies.
"List! now the thunder's rattling, dinning sound
Moves slowly on, and then augmented clangs,
Shakes the high spire, and lost, dispended, drowned,
Still on the startled ear of terror hangs.
The winds are up; the lofty elm-tree swings!
Again the levin, and the thunder pours,
And the full clouds at once are burst in stony showers.
"Spurring his palfrey o'er the watery plain,
The Abbot of St. Godwin's convent came;
His chapournette[19] was drenchéd with the rain,
His painted girdle met with mickle shame;
He backward told his bead-roll at the same;
The storm grew stronger, and he drew aside
With the poor alms-craver near to the holm to bide.
"His cloak was all of Lincoln cloth so fine,
A golden button fastened near his chin;
His autremete[20] was edged with golden twine,
And his peaked shoes a noble's might have been;
Full well it showed that he thought cost no sin;
The trammels of the palfrey pleased his sight,
For the horse-milliner his head with roses dight.[21]
"'An alms, Sir Priest!' the dropping pilgrim said;
'O! let me wait within your convent door,
Till the sun shineth high above our head,
And the loud tempest of the air is o'er;
Helpless and old am I, alas! and poor;
No house, nor friend, nor money in my pouch;
All that I call my own is this my silver crouche.'[22]
"'Varlet!' replied the abbot, 'cease your din;
This is no season alms and prayers to give;
My porter never lets a stroller in;
None touch my ring who not in honor live.'
And now the sun with the black clouds did strive,
And shedding on the ground his glaring ray,
The abbot spurred his steed, and eftsoons rode away.
"Again the sky was black, the thunder rolled;
Fast hieing o'er the plain a priest was seen;
Not dight full proud, nor buttoned up in gold;
His cloak and cape were gray, and eke were clean;
A limitor he was of order seen;[23]
And from the pathway side then turnéd he,
Where the poor almer lay beneath the holmen tree.
"'An alms, Sir Priest,' the dropping pilgrim said,
'For sweet St. Mary and your order's sake.'
The limitor then loosed his pouch's thread,
And did thereout a groat of silver take;
The wretched pilgrim did for gladness shake.
'Here, take this silver, it may ease thy care;
We are God's stewards all; naught of our own we bear.'
"'But oh! unhappy pilgrim, learn of me,
Scarce any give a rent-roll to their Lord
Here, take my semi-cape,[24] thou'rt bare, I see;
'Tis thine; the saints will give me my reward.'
He left the pilgrim, and away he strode.
Virgin and holy saints, who sit in gloure,[25]
Or give the mighty will, or give the good man power!"
The following presents a very living picture of the ceremony of church consecration formerly: