“O KINDLY Muse! let not my weak tongue falter

In telling of this goodly company,

Of their old piety and of their glee;

But let a portion of ethereal dew

Fall on my head, and presently unmew

My soul; that I may dare, in wayfaring,

To stammer where old Chaucer used to sing.”

[Keats: Endymion.]

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ