They gave it mellowing fruits to eat,
And honey-combs to make it sweet.
Yet, when they hauled it to the sky,
The Bell was one star-shattering lie.
So, for the third time and the last,
They lowered it down to be re-cast.
The white-hot metal seethed anew,
And the crowd shrank as the heat grew;
But a white-robed woman, queenly and tall,
Pressed to the brink before them all,