On tree or maid: nay, were my nature framed

With any touch of truth, these both were made

For souls like mine to look at and enjoy.”

XLII.

“But, Haydn,” said I, “your strange convent, fill’d

With age and vowless maids—you banish thence

Christ’s life, self-sacrifice.”

“And sacrifice

But sates the worst of vanity,” he said,

“Unless our yielding yield to higher good.