For earlier things do seem as yesterday;
But I’ve no recollection of the hour
They gave my hand to Aldobrand.’
Perhaps these lines would be more natural if spoken of the lady than by her. The descriptive style will allow things to be supposed or said of others, which cannot so well be believed or said by them. There is also a want of dramatic decorum in Bertram’s description of a monastic life addressed to the Prior. It should be a solitary reflection.
‘Yea, thus they live, if this may life be called,
Where moving shadows mock the parts of men.
Prayer follows study, study yields to prayer—
Bell echoes bell, till wearied with the summons,
The ear doth ache for that last welcome peal
That tolls an end to listless vacancy.’