A feast before us, and a[185] courteous Host

Inviting us in glee to sit and eat.

A napkin, white as foam of that rough brook

By which it had been bleached, o'erspread the board;

And was itself half-covered with a store[186]

Of dainties,—oaten bread, curd,[187] cheese, and cream;

And cakes of butter curiously embossed,

Butter that had imbibed from meadow-flowers

A golden hue, delicate as their own

Faintly reflected in a lingering stream."[188]