The Book And The Ring Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQERS T UVWXYZA2B2Q C2D2E2F2G2HH2I2J2K2L 2H2M2N2HUO2P2 QQ2HZR2S2T2U2V2W2XX2 R2S2C2Y2Z2A3B3C3D3 E3F3G3H3H3QA3A3I3H3E 3J3K3H3L3M3H3HN3O3O3 P3 Q3H2O3 A3UH3O3E3O3O3H3R3S3T 3H3U3A3HH3H3V3H3U HA3V3M3UUUH3E3HH3UD3 R2LA3M3H3A3H3O3UUH3H H3W3UUX3HY3UZ3UO3M3A 3Q3H3M3FA4O3M3UH3B4C 4 H3R2UUA3HD4UM3HUM3E4 UHUO3UV3F4G4H3H UV3D3A3H3UA3H4M3I4M3 J4UH3HH3UK4M3 UUHEUL4M3HV3M4H3V3A3 M3O3H3N4H3UM3H3H3HUU O3UR3M4M3H2I4HUUH2H3 UHHA3A3UUUFR3M3UA3P3 H3M3UK2UUO4HP3H3M3UM 3A3H3UI3I3R3UUA3H3P4 H3HUH3A3 UA3 H3UV3HUH3A3H3UU3V3I3 UH3H3UI3H3HX3H3UH3Q4 UUH3 UR4M3L3H3UZH3U I3UH3S4T4D3HH3UUA3UZ 3H3H3H3UH3HUM3UUH3 HK4UUU4UHA3L3K2M3H3U HH3D3M3UV3V4H3I3 UH3H3H3HD3H3I3UM3UUU HH3 UUUUUUH3E4UHV3UHUM3H H3H3UI3W4V3D3E4UH3UH 3H3M3UK3H3D3H3H3P3I3 H3UUM3UUX4UH3I3H3 UA3U3H3HUUI3UY4V3H3M 3H3H3Z4UU H3D3H3L4UUM3Y4I3HUM3 H3UEM3HH3UUD2HH3M3H3 D3 H3HA3H3H3 UHUUL3I3HH3HUUH3 UH3M3H3H3U I3ED3H3HUD3HD3UUD3I3 UA3H3HI3HUM3UH3H3D3H 3H3UH3D3UH3UD3H3HUH3 UUUA3 M3D3H3UM3D3HD3H3D3H3 EH3UA3H3D3D3ED3H3M3U HI3H3UH3M3H3A3V3D3EH 3D3H3UH3M3UI3HHUUD3H 3UHH3ED2D3 UUA3M3HM3UUUHL4HH3U4 H3HH3V3M3HM3UH3M3H3Y 4H3UO4M3H3EH3UH UUH3HD3Y4I3I3UH3HUP3 D3UH3 EM3H3H3UEZ4U H3UM3UUM3UUH3O4D3H3H 3H3ED3H3UH3UUH3UUA3Y 4H3HUH3UUH3H3UH3UA3H 3H3UD3UH3D3H3A3UA3UD 3UUH3UEUEH3HEV3H3I3H 3I3UH3UUM3V3UUUUH3D2 H3 UUEUUA3I3A3A3UY4UUD3 UH3H3 I3H3UU H3Y4UUD2UD3 M3EUUO4M3UUH3UH3UI3D 3H3H3H3M3UH3UH3D3M3U M3D3H3UH3UH3V3H3UK2H 3 P3UUM3EEH3UH3M3U H3HUH3H3UH3M3UH3V3UI 3UV3UHUUUW3HUI3EL4H3 UUL4M3L4UUL4HUUH3U M3EUY4A3UH3Here were the end had anything an end | A |
Thus lit and launched up and up roared and soared | B |
A rocket till the key o' the vault was reached | C |
And wide heaven held a breathless minute space | D |
In brilliant usurpature thus caught spark | E |
Rushed to the height and hung at full of fame | F |
Over men's upturned faces ghastly thence | G |
Our glaring Guido now decline must be | H |
In its explosion you have seen his act | I |
By my power may be judged it by your own | J |
Or composite as good orbs prove or crammed | K |
With worse ingredients than the Wormwood Star | L |
The act over and ended falls and fades | M |
What was once seen grows what is now described | N |
Then talked of told about a tinge the less | O |
In every fresh transmission till it melts | P |
Trickles in silent orange or wan grey | Q |
Across our memory dies and leaves all dark | E |
And presently we find the stars again | R |
Follow the main streaks meditate the mode | S |
Of brightness how it hastes to blend with black | T |
- | |
After that February Twenty two | U |
Since our salvation Sixteen Ninety Eight | V |
Of all reports that were or may have been | W |
Concerning those the day killed or let live | X |
Four I count only Take the first that comes | Y |
A letter from a stranger man of rank | Z |
Venetian visitor at Rome who knows | A2 |
On what pretence of busy idleness | B2 |
Thus he begins on evening of that day | Q |
- | |
Here are we at our end of Carnival | C2 |
Prodigious gaiety and monstrous mirth | D2 |
And constant shift of entertaining show | E2 |
With influx from each quarter of the globe | F2 |
Of strangers nowise wishful to be last | G2 |
I' the struggle for a good place presently | H |
When that befalls fate cannot long defer | H2 |
The old Pope totters on the verge o' the grave | I2 |
You see Malpichi understood far more | J2 |
Than Tozzi how to treat the ailments age | K2 |
No question renders these inveterate | L2 |
Cardinal Spada actual Minister | H2 |
Is possible Pope I wager on his head | M2 |
Since those four entertainments of his niece | N2 |
Which set all Rome a stare Pope probably | H |
Though Colloredo has his backers too | U |
And San Cesario makes one doubt at times | O2 |
Altieri will be Chamberlain at most | P2 |
- | |
A week ago the sun was warm like May | Q |
And the old man took daily exercise | Q2 |
Along the river side he loves to see | H |
That Custom house he built upon the bank | Z |
For Naples born his tastes are maritime | R2 |
But yesterday he had to keep in doors | S2 |
Because of the outrageous rain that fell | T2 |
On such days the good soul has fainting fits | U2 |
Or lies in stupor scarcely makes believe | V2 |
Of minding business fumbles at his beads | W2 |
They say the trust that keeps his heart alive | X |
Is that by lasting till December next | X2 |
He may hold Jubilee a second time | R2 |
And twice in one reign ope the Holy Doors | S2 |
By the way somebody responsible | C2 |
Assures me that the King of France has writ | Y2 |
Fresh orders Fenelon will be condemned | Z2 |
The Cardinal makes a wry face enough | A3 |
Having a love for the delinquent still | B3 |
He's the ambassador must press the point | C3 |
Have you a wager too dependent here | D3 |
- | |
Now from such matters to divert awhile | E3 |
Hear of to day's event which crowns the week | F3 |
Casts all the other wagers into shade | G3 |
Tell Dandolo I owe him fifty drops | H3 |
Of heart's blood in the shape of gold zecchines | H3 |
The Pope has done his worst I have to pay | Q |
For the execution of the Count by Jove | A3 |
Two days since I reported him as safe | A3 |
Re echoing the conviction of all Rome | I3 |
Who could suspect the one deaf ear the Pope's | H3 |
But prejudices grow insuperable | E3 |
And that old enmity to Austria that | J3 |
Passion for France and France's pageant king | K3 |
Of which why pause to multiply the proofs | H3 |
Now scandalously rife in Europe's mouth | L3 |
These fairly got the better in the man | M3 |
Of justice prudence and esprit de corps | H3 |
And he persisted in the butchery | H |
Also 'tis said that in his latest walk | N3 |
To that Dogana by the Bank he built | O3 |
The crowd he suffers question unrebuked | O3 |
Asked 'Whether murder was a privilege | P3 |
'Only reserved for nobles like the Count ' | - |
And he was ever mindful of the mob | Q3 |
Martinez the C sarian Minister | H2 |
Who used his best endeavours to spare blood | O3 |
And strongly pleaded for the life 'of one ' | - |
Urged he 'I may have dined at table with ' | - |
He will not soon forget the Pope's rebuff | A3 |
Feels the slight sensibly I promise you | U |
And but for the dissuasion of two eyes | H3 |
That make with him foul weather or fine day | O3 |
He had abstained nor graced the spectacle | E3 |
As it was barely would he condescend | O3 |
Look forth from the palchetto where he sat | O3 |
Under the Pincian we shall hear of this | H3 |
The substituting too the People's Square | R3 |
For the out o' the way old quarter by the Bridge | S3 |
Was meant as a conciliatory sop | T3 |
To the mob it gave one holiday the more | H3 |
But the French Embassy might unfurl flag | U3 |
Still the good luck of France to fling a foe | A3 |
Cardinal Bouillon triumphs properly | H |
Palchetti were erected in the Place | H3 |
And houses at the edge of the Three Streets | H3 |
Let their front windows at six dollars each | V3 |
Anguisciola that patron of the arts | H3 |
Hired one our Envoy Contarini too | U |
- | |
Now for the thing no sooner the decree | H |
Gone forth 'tis four and twenty hours ago | A3 |
Than Acciaioli and Panciatichi | V3 |
Old friends indeed compatriots of the man | M3 |
Being pitched on as the couple properest | U |
To intimate the sentence yesternight | U |
Were closeted ere cock crow with the Count | U |
They both report their efforts to dispose | H3 |
The unhappy nobleman for ending well | E3 |
Despite the natural sense of injury | H |
Were crowned at last with a complete success | H3 |
And when the Company of Death arrived | U |
At twenty hours the way they reckon here | D3 |
We say at sunset after dinner time | R2 |
The Count was led down hoisted up on car | L |
Last of the five as heinousest you know | A3 |
Yet they allowed one whole car to each man | M3 |
His intrepidity nay nonchalance | H3 |
As up he stood and down he sat himself | A3 |
Struck admiration into those who saw | H3 |
Then the procession started took the way | O3 |
From the New Prisons by the Pilgrim's Street | U |
The street of the Governo Pasquin's Street | U |
Where was stuck up 'mid other epigrams | H3 |
A quatrain but of all that presently | H |
The Place Navona the Pantheon's Place | H3 |
Place of the Column last the Corso's length | W3 |
And so debouched thence at Mannaia's foot | U |
I' the Place o' the People As is evident | U |
Despite the malice plainly meant I fear | X3 |
By this abrupt change of locality | H |
The Square's no such bad place to head and hang | Y3 |
We had the titillation as we sat | U |
Assembled quality in conclave ha | Z3 |
Of minute after minute some report | U |
How the slow show was winding on its way | O3 |
Now did a car run over kill a man | M3 |
Just opposite a pork shop numbered Twelve | A3 |
And bitter were the outcries of the mob | Q3 |
Against the Pope for but that he forbids | H3 |
The Lottery why twelve were Tern Quatern | M3 |
Now did a beggar by Saint Agnes lame | F |
From his youth up recover use of leg | A4 |
Through prayer of Guido as he glanced that way | O3 |
So that the crowd near crammed his hat with coin | M3 |
Thus was kept up excitement to the last | U |
Not an abrupt out bolting as of yore | H3 |
From Castle over Bridge and on to block | B4 |
And so all ended ere you well could wink | C4 |
- | |
Guido was last to mount the scaffold steps | H3 |
Here also as atrociousest in crime | R2 |
We hardly noticed how the peasants died | U |
They dangled somehow soon to right and left | U |
And we remained all ears and eyes could give | A3 |
Ourselves to Guido undividedly | H |
As he harangued the multitude beneath | D4 |
He begged forgiveness on the part of God | U |
And fair construction of his act from men | M3 |
Whose suffrage he entreated for his soul | H |
Suggesting that we should forthwith repeat | U |
A Pater and an Ave with the hymn | M3 |
Salve Regina Coeli for his sake | E4 |
Which said he turned to the confessor crossed | U |
And reconciled himself with decency | H |
Oft glancing at Saint Mary's opposite | U |
Where they possess and showed in shrine to day | O3 |
The Blessed Umbilicus of our Lord | U |
A relic 'tis believed no other church | V3 |
In Rome can boast of then rose up as brisk | F4 |
Knelt down again bent head adapted neck | G4 |
And with the name of Jesus on his lips | H3 |
Received the fatal blow | H |
- | |
The headsman showed | U |
The head to the populace Must I avouch | V3 |
We strangers own to disappointment here | D3 |
Report pronounced him fully six feet high | A3 |
Youngish considering his fifty years | H3 |
And if not handsome dignified at least | U |
Indeed it was no face to please a wife | A3 |
His friends say this was caused by the costume | H4 |
He wore the dress he did the murder in | M3 |
That is a just a corps of russet serge | I4 |
Black camisole coarse cloak of baracan | M3 |
So they style here the garb of goat's hair cloth | J4 |
White hat and cotton cap beneath poor Count | U |
Preservative against the evening dews | H3 |
During the journey from Arezzo Well | H |
So died the man and so his end was peace | H3 |
Whence many a moral were to meditate | U |
Spada you may bet Dandolo is Pope | K4 |
Now for the quatrain | M3 |
- | |
No friend this will do | U |
You've sputtered into sparks What streak comes next | U |
A letter Don Giacinto Arcangeli | H |
Doctor and Proctor him I made you mark | E |
Buckle to business in his study late | U |
The virtuous sire the valiant for the truth | L4 |
Acquaints his correspondent Florentine | M3 |
By name Cencini advocate as well | H |
Socius and brother in the devil to match | V3 |
A friend of Franceschini anyhow | M4 |
And knit up with the bowels of the case | H3 |
Acquaints him in this paper that I touch | V3 |
How their joint effort to obtain reprieve | A3 |
For Guido had so nearly nicked the nine | M3 |
And ninety and one over he would say | O3 |
At Tarocs or succeeded in our phrase | H3 |
To this Cencini's care I owe the Book | N4 |
The yellow thing I take and toss once more | H3 |
How will it be my four years' intimate | U |
When thou and I part company anon | M3 |
'Twas he the whole position of the case | H3 |
Pleading and summary were put before | H3 |
Discreetly in my Book he bound them all | H |
Adding some three epistles to the point | U |
Here is the first of these part fresh as penned | U |
The sand that dried the ink not rubbed away | O3 |
Though penned the day whereof it tells the deed | U |
Part extant just as plainly you know where | R3 |
Whence came the other stuff went you know how | M4 |
To make the ring that's all but round and done | M3 |
Late they arrived too late egregious Sir | H2 |
Those same justificative points you urge | I4 |
Might benefit His Blessed Memory | H |
Count Guido Franceschini now with God | U |
Since the Court to state things succinctly styled | U |
The Congregation of the Governor | H2 |
Having resolved on Tuesday last our cause | H3 |
I' the guilty sense with death for punishment | U |
Spite of all pleas by me deducible | H |
In favour of said Blessed Memory | H |
I with expenditure of pains enough | A3 |
Obtained a respite leave to claim and prove | A3 |
Exemption from the law's award alleged | U |
The power and privilege o' the Clericate | U |
To which effect a courier was despatched | U |
But ere an answer from Arezzo came | F |
The Holiness of our Lord the Pope prepare | R3 |
Judging it inexpedient to postpone | M3 |
The execution of such sentence passed | U |
Saw fit by his particular chirograph | A3 |
To derogate dispense with privilege | P3 |
And wink at any hurt accruing thence | H3 |
To Mother Church through damage of her son | M3 |
Also to overpass and set aside | U |
That other plea on score of tender age | K2 |
Put forth by me to do Pasquini good | U |
One of the four in trouble with our friend | U |
So that all five to day have suffered death | O4 |
With no distinction save in dying he | H |
Decollated by way of privilege | P3 |
The rest hanged decently and in order Thus | H3 |
Came the Count to his end of gallant man | M3 |
Defunct in faith and exemplarity | U |
Nor shall the shield of his great House lose shine | M3 |
Nor its blue banner blush to red thereby | A3 |
This too should yield sustainment to our hearts | H3 |
He had commiseration and respect | U |
In his decease from universal Rome | I3 |
Quantum est hominum venustiorum | I3 |
The nice and cultivated everywhere | R3 |
Though in respect of me his advocate | U |
Needs must I groan o'er my debility | U |
Attribute the untoward event o' the strife | A3 |
To nothing but my own crass ignorance | H3 |
Which failed to set the valid reasons forth | P4 |
Find fit excuse such is the fate of war | H3 |
May God compensate us the direful blow | H |
By future blessings on his family | U |
Whereof I lowly beg the next commands | H3 |
Whereto as humbly I confirm myself | A3 |
- | |
And so forth follow name and place and date | U |
On the next leaf | A3 |
- | |
Hactenus senioribus | H3 |
There old fox show the clients t'other side | U |
And keep this corner sacred I beseech | V3 |
You and your pleas and proofs were what folks call | H |
Pisan assistance aid that comes too late | U |
Saves a man dead as nail in post of door | H3 |
Had I but time and space for narrative | A3 |
What was the good of twenty Clericates | H3 |
When somebody's thick headpiece once was bent | U |
On seeing Guido's drop into the bag | U3 |
How these old men like giving youth a push | V3 |
So much the better next push goes to him | I3 |
And a new Pope begins the century | U |
Much good I get by my superb defence | H3 |
But argument is solid and subsists | H3 |
While obstinacy and ineptitude | U |
Accompany the owner to his tomb | I3 |
What do I care how soon Beside folks see | H3 |
Rome will have relished heartily the show | H |
Yet understood the motives never fear | X3 |
Which caused the indecent change o' the People's Place | H3 |
To the People's Playground stigmatise the spite | U |
Which in a trice precipitated things | H3 |
As oft the moribund will give a kick | Q4 |
To show they are not absolutely dead | U |
So feebleness i' the socket shoots its last | U |
A spirt of violence for energy | H3 |
- | |
But thou Cencini brother of my breast | U |
O fox whose home is 'mid the tender grape | R4 |
Whose couch in Tuscany by Themis' throne | M3 |
Subject to no such but I shut my mouth | L3 |
Or only open it again to say | H3 |
This pother and confusion fairly laid | U |
My hands are empty and my satchel lank | Z |
Now then for both the Matrimonial Cause | H3 |
And the case of Gomez Serve them hot and hot | U |
- | |
Reliqua differamus in crastinum | I3 |
The impatient estafette cracks whip outside | U |
Still though the earth should swallow him who swears | H3 |
And me who make the mischief in must slip | S4 |
My boy your godson fat chaps Hyacinth | T4 |
Enjoyed the sight while Papa plodded here | D3 |
I promised him the rogue a month ago | H |
The day his birthday was of all the days | H3 |
That if I failed to save Count Guido's head | U |
Cinuccio should at least go see it chopped | U |
From trunk 'So latinize your thanks ' quoth I | A3 |
'That I prefer hoc malim ' raps me out | U |
The rogue you notice the subjunctive Ah | Z3 |
Accordingly he sat there bold in box | H3 |
Proud as the Pope behind the peacock fans | H3 |
Whereon a certain lady patroness | H3 |
For whom I manage things my boy in front | U |
Her Marquis sat the third in evidence | H3 |
Boys have no eyes nor ears save for the show | H |
'This time Cintino ' was her sportive word | U |
When whiz and thump went axe and mowed lay man | M3 |
And folks could fall to the suspended chat | U |
'This time you see Bottini rules the roast | U |
'Nor can Papa with all his eloquence | H3 |
'Be reckoned on to help as heretofore ' | - |
Whereat Cinone pouts then sparkishly | H |
'Papa knew better than aggrieve his Pope | K4 |
'And baulk him of his grudge against our Count | U |
'Else he'd have argued off Bottini's' what | U |
'His nose ' the rogue well parried of the boy | U4 |
He's long since out of C sar eight years old | U |
And as for tripping in Eutropius well | H |
Reason the more that we strain every nerve | A3 |
To do him justice mould a model mouth | L3 |
A Bartolus cum Baldo for next age | K2 |
For that I purse the pieces work the brain | M3 |
And want both Gomez and the marriage case | H3 |
Success with which shall plaster aught of pate | U |
That's broken in me by Bottini's flail | H |
And bruise his own belike that wags and brags | H3 |
Adverti supplico humiliter | D3 |
Quod don't the fungus see the fop divine | M3 |
That one hand drives two horses left and right | U |
With this rein did I rescue from the ditch | V3 |
The fortune of our Franceschini keep | V4 |
Unsplashed the credit of a noble House | H3 |
And set the fashionable cause of Rome | I3 |
A prancing till bystanders shouted ''ware ' | - |
The other rein's judicious management | U |
Suffered old Somebody to keep the pace | H3 |
Hobblingly play the roadster who but he | H3 |
Had his opinion was not led by the nose | H3 |
In leash of quibbles strung to look like law | H |
You'll soon see when I go to pay devoir | D3 |
And compliment him on confuting me | H3 |
If by a back swing of the pendulum | I3 |
Grace be not thick and threefold consequent | U |
'I must decide as I see proper Don | M3 |
'The Pope I have my inward lights for guide | U |
'Had learning been the matter in dispute | U |
'Could eloquence avail to gainsay fact | U |
'Yours were the victory be comforted ' | - |
Cinuzzo will be gainer by it all | H |
Quick then with Gomez hot and hot next case | H3 |
- | |
Follows a letter takes the other side | U |
Tall blue eyed Fisc whose head is capped with cloud | U |
Doctor Bottini to no matter who | U |
Writes on the Monday two days afterward | U |
Now shall the honest championship of right | U |
Crowned with success enjoy at last unblamed | U |
Moderate triumph Now shall eloquence | H3 |
Poured forth in fancied floods for virtue's sake | E4 |
The print is sorrowfully dyked and dammed | U |
But shows where fain the unbridled force would flow | H |
Finding a channel now shall this refresh | V3 |
The thirsty donor with a drop or two | U |
Here has been truth at issue with a lie | H |
Let who gained truth the day have handsome pride | U |
In his own prowess Eh What ails the man | M3 |
Well it is over ends as I foresaw | H |
Easily proved Pompilia's innocence | H3 |
Catch them entrusting Guido's guilt to me | H3 |
I had as usual the plain truth to plead | U |
I always knew the clearness of the stream | I3 |
Would show the fish so thoroughly child might prong | W4 |
The clumsy monster with no mud to splash | V3 |
Small credit to lynx eye and lightning spear | D3 |
This Guido much sport he contrived to make | E4 |
Who at first twist preamble of the cord | U |
Turned white told all like the poltroon he was | H3 |
Finished as you expect a penitent | U |
Fully confessed his crime and made amends | H3 |
And edifying Rome last Saturday | H3 |
Died like a saint poor devil That's the man | M3 |
The gods still give to my antagonist | U |
Imagine how Arcangeli claps wing | K3 |
And crows 'Such formidable facts to face | H3 |
'So naked to attack my client here | D3 |
'And yet I kept a month the Fisc at bay | H3 |
'And in the end had foiled him of the prize | H3 |
'By this arch stroke this plea of privilege | P3 |
'But that the Pope must gratify his whim | I3 |
'Put in his word poor old man let it pass ' | - |
Such is the cue to which all Rome responds | H3 |
What with the plain truth given me to uphold | U |
And should I let truth slip the Pope at hand | U |
To pick up steady her on legs again | M3 |
My office turns a pleasantry indeed | U |
Not that the burly boaster did one jot | U |
O' the little was to do young Spreti's work | X4 |
But for him mannikin and dandiprat | U |
Mere candle end and inch of cleverness | H3 |
Stuck on Arcangeli's save all but for him | I3 |
The spruce young Spreti what is bad were worse | H3 |
- | |
I looked that Rome should have the natural gird | U |
At advocate with case that proves itself | A3 |
I knew Arcangeli would grin and brag | U3 |
But what say you to one impertinence | H3 |
Might move a man That monk you are to know | H |
That barefoot Augustinian whose report | U |
O' the dying woman's words did detriment | U |
To my best points it took the freshness from | I3 |
That meddler preached to purpose yesterday | U |
At San Lorenzo as a winding up | Y4 |
O' the shows have proved a treasure to the church | V3 |
Out comes his sermon smoking from the press | H3 |
Its text 'Let God be true and every man | M3 |
'A liar' and its application this | H3 |
The longest winded of the paragraphs | H3 |
I straight unstitch tear out and treat you with | Z4 |
'Tis piping hot and posts through Rome to day | U |
Remember it as I engage to do | U |
- | |
But if you rather be disposed to see | H3 |
In the result of the long trial here | D3 |
This dealing doom to guilt and doling praise | H3 |
To innocency any proof that truth | L4 |
May look for vindication from the world | U |
Much will you have misread the signs I say | U |
God who seems acquiescent in the main | M3 |
With those who add 'So will He ever sleep' | Y4 |
Flutters their foolishness from time to time | I3 |
Puts forth His right hand recognisably | H |
Even as to fools who deem He needs must right | U |
Wrong on the instant as if earth were heaven | M3 |
He wakes remonstrance 'Passive Lord how long ' | - |
Because Pompilia's purity prevails | H3 |
Conclude you all truth triumphs in the end | U |
So might those old inhabitants of the ark | E |
Witnessing haply their dove's safe return | M3 |
Pronounce there was no danger all the while | H |
O' the deluge to the creature's counterparts | H3 |
Aught that beat wing i' the world was white or soft | U |
And that the lark the thrush the culver too | U |
Might equally have traversed air found earth | D2 |
And brought back olive branch in unharmed bill | H |
Methinks I hear the Patriarch's warning voice | H3 |
'Though this one breast by miracle return | M3 |
'No wave rolls by in all the waste but bears | H3 |
'Within it some dead dove like thing as dear | D3 |
'Beauty made blank and harmlessness destroyed ' | - |
How many chaste and noble sister fames | H3 |
Wanted the extricating hand and lie | H |
Strangled for one Pompilia proud above | A3 |
The welter plucked from the world's calumny | H3 |
Stupidity simplicity who cares | H3 |
- | |
Romans An elder race possessed your land | U |
Long ago and a false faith lingered still | H |
As shades do though the morning star be out | U |
Doubtless some pagan of the twilight day | U |
Has often pointed to a cavern mouth | L3 |
Obnoxious to beholders hard by Rome | I3 |
And said nor he a bad man no nor fool | H |
Only a man so blind like all his mates | H3 |
'Here skulk in safety lurk defying law | H |
'The devotees to execrable creed | U |
'Adoring with what culture Jove avert | U |
'Thy vengeance from us worshippers of thee | H3 |
'What rites obscene their idol god an Ass ' | - |
So went the word forth so acceptance found | U |
So century re echoed century | H3 |
Cursed the accursed and so from sire to son | M3 |
You Romans cried 'The offscourings of our race | H3 |
'Corrupt within the depths there fitly fiends | H3 |
'Perform a temple service o'er the dead | U |
'Child gather garment round thee pass nor pry ' | - |
So groaned your generations till the time | I3 |
Grew ripe and lightning hath revealed belike | E |
Thro' crevice peeped into by curious fear | D3 |
Some object even fear could recognise | H3 |
I' the place of spectres on the illumined wall | H |
To wit some nook tradition talks about | U |
Narrow and short a corpse's length no more | D3 |
And by it in the due receptacle | H |
The little rude brown lamp of earthenware | D3 |
The cruse was meant for flowers but held the blood | U |
The rough scratched palm branch and the legend left | U |
Pro Christo Then the mystery lay clear | D3 |
The abhorred one was a martyr all the time | I3 |
A saint whereof earth was not worthy What | U |
Do you continue in the old belief | A3 |
Where blackness bides unbroke must devils be | H3 |
Is it so certain not another cell | H |
O' the myriad that make up the catacomb | I3 |
Contains some saint a second flash would show | H |
Will you ascend into the light of day | U |
And having recognised a martyr's shrine | M3 |
Go join the votaries that gape around | U |
Each vulgar god that awes the market place | H3 |
Be these the objects of your praising See | H3 |
In the outstretched right hand of Apollo there | D3 |
Is screened a scorpion housed amid the folds | H3 |
Of Juno's mantle lo a cockatrice | H3 |
Each statue of a god was fitlier styled | U |
Demon and devil Glorify no brass | H3 |
That shines like burnished gold in noonday glare | D3 |
For fools Be otherwise instructed you | U |
And preferably ponder ere ye pass | H3 |
Each incident of this strange human play | U |
Privily acted on a theatre | D3 |
Was deemed secure from every gaze but God's | H3 |
Till of a sudden earthquake lays wall low | H |
And lets the world see the wild work inside | U |
And how in petrifaction of surprise | H3 |
The actors stand raised arm and planted foot | U |
Mouth as it made eye as it evidenced | U |
Despairing shriek triumphant hate transfixed | U |
Both he who takes and she who yields the life | A3 |
- | |
As ye become spectators of this scene | M3 |
Watch obscuration of a fame pearl pure | D3 |
In vapoury films enwoven circumstance | H3 |
A soul made weak by its pathetic want | U |
Of just the first apprenticeship to sin | M3 |
Would thenceforth make the sinning soul secure | D3 |
From all foes save itself that's truliest foe | H |
For egg turned snake needs fear no serpentry | D3 |
As ye behold this web of circumstance | H3 |
Deepen the more for every thrill and throe | D3 |
Convulsive effort to disperse the films | H3 |
And disenmesh the fame o' the martyr mark | E |
How all those means the unfriended one pursues | H3 |
To keep the treasure trusted to her breast | U |
Each struggle in the flight from death to life | A3 |
How all by procuration of the powers | H3 |
Of darkness are transformed no single ray | D3 |
Shot forth to show and save the inmost star | D3 |
But passed as through hell's prism proceeding black | E |
To the world that hates white as ye watch I say | D3 |
Till dusk and such defacement grow eclipse | H3 |
By marvellous perversity of man | M3 |
The inadequacy and inaptitude | U |
Of that self same machine that very law | H |
Man vaunts devised to dissipate the gloom | I3 |
Rescue the drowning orb from calumny | H3 |
Hear law appointed to defend the just | U |
Submit for best defence that wickedness | H3 |
Was bred of flesh and innate with the bone | M3 |
Borne by Pompilia's spirit for a space | H3 |
And no mere chance fault passionate and brief | A3 |
Finally when ye find after this touch | V3 |
Of man's protection which intends to mar | D3 |
The last pin point of light and damn the disc | E |
One wave of the hand of God amid the worlds | H3 |
Bid vapour vanish darkness flee away | D3 |
And leave the vexed star culminate in peace | H3 |
Approachable no more by earthly mist | U |
What I call God's hand you perhaps this chance | H3 |
Of the true instinct of an old good man | M3 |
Who happens to hate darkness and love light | U |
In whom too was the eye that saw not dim | I3 |
The natural force to do the thing he saw | H |
Nowise abated both by miracle | H |
All this well pondered I demand assent | U |
To the enunciation of my text | U |
In face of one proof more that 'God is true | D3 |
'And every man a liar' that who trusts | H3 |
To human testimony for a fact | U |
Gets this sole fact himself is proved a fool | H |
Man's speech being false if but by consequence | H3 |
That only strength is true while man is weak | E |
And since truth seems reserved for heaven not earth | D2 |
Should learn to love what he may speak one day | D3 |
- | |
For me the weary and the worn who prompt | U |
To mirth or pity as I move the mood | U |
A friar who glide unnoticed to the grave | A3 |
Bare feet coarse robe and rope grit waist of mine | M3 |
I have long since renounced your world ye know | H |
Yet weigh the worth of worldly prize foregone | M3 |
Disinterestedly judge this and that | U |
Good ye account good but God tries the heart | U |
Still if you question me of my content | U |
At having put each human pleasure by | H |
I answer at the urgency of truth | L4 |
As this world seems I dare not say I know | H |
Apart from Christ's assurance which decides | H3 |
Whether I have not failed to taste some joy | U4 |
For many a dream would fain perturb my choice | H3 |
How love in those the varied shapes might show | H |
As glory or as rapture or as grace | H3 |
How conversancy with the books that teach | V3 |
The arts that help how to grow great in fine | M3 |
Rather than simply good and bring thereby | H |
Goodness to breathe and live nor born i' the brain | M3 |
Die there how these and many another gift | U |
May well be precious though abjured by me | H3 |
But for one prize best meed of mightiest man | M3 |
Arch object of ambition earthly praise | H3 |
Repute o' the world the flourish of loud trump | Y4 |
The softer social fluting Oh for these | H3 |
No my friends Fame that bubble which world wide | U |
Each blows and bids his neighbour lend a breath | O4 |
That so he haply may behold thereon | M3 |
One more enlarged distorted false fool's face | H3 |
Until some glassy nothing grown as big | E |
Send by a touch the imperishable to suds | H3 |
No in renouncing fame the loss was light | U |
Choosing obscurity the chance was well | H |
- | |
Didst ever touch such ampollosity | U |
As the man's own bubble let alone its spite | U |
What's his speech for but just the fame he flouts | H3 |
How he dares reprehend both high and low | H |
Else had he turned the sentence God is true | D3 |
And every man a liar save the Pope | Y4 |
Happily reigning my respects to him | I3 |
So rounded off the period Molinism | I3 |
Simple and pure To what pitch get we next | U |
I find that for first pleasant consequence | H3 |
Gomez who had intended to appeal | H |
From the absurd decision of the Court | U |
Declines though plain enough his privilege | P3 |
To call on help from lawyers any more | D3 |
Resolves the liars may possess the world | U |
Till God have had sufficiency of both | |
So may I whistle for my job and fee | H3 |
- | |
But for this virulent and rabid monk | E |
If law be an inadequate machine | M3 |
And advocacy so much impotence | H3 |
We shall soon see my blatant brother That's | H3 |
Exactly what I hope to show your sort | U |
For by a veritable piece of luck | E |
True providence you monks round period with | Z4 |
All may be gloriously retrieved Perpend | U |
- | |
That Monastery of the Convertites | H3 |
Whereto the Court consigned Pompilia first | U |
Observe if convertite why sinner then | M3 |
Or where the pertinency of award | U |
And whither she was late returned to die | U |
Still in their jurisdiction mark again | M3 |
That thrifty Sisterhood for perquisite | U |
Claims every paul where of may die possessed | U |
Each sinner in the circuit of its walls | H3 |
Now this Pompilia seeing that by death | O4 |
O' the couple all their wealth devolved on her | D3 |
Straight utilised the respite ere decease | H3 |
By regular conveyance of the goods | H3 |
She thought her own to will and to devise | H3 |
Gave all to friends Tighetti and the like | E |
In trust for him she held her son and heir | D3 |
Gaetano trust to end with infancy | H3 |
So willing and devising since assured | U |
The justice of the Court would presently | H3 |
Confirm her in her rights and exculpate | U |
Re integrate and rehabilitate | U |
Station as through my pleading now she stands | H3 |
But here's the capital mistake the Court | U |
Found Guido guilty but pronounced no word | U |
About the innocency of his wife | A3 |
I grounded charge on broader base I hope | Y4 |
No matter whether wife be true or false | H3 |
The husband must not push aside the law | H |
And punish of a sudden that's the point | U |
Gather from out my speech the contrary | H3 |
It follows that Pompilia unrelieved | U |
By formal sentence from imputed fault | U |
Remains unfit to have and to dispose | H3 |
Of property which law provides shall lapse | H3 |
Wherefore the Monastery claims its due | U |
And whose pray whose the office but the Fisc's | H3 |
Who but I institute procedure next | U |
Against the person of dishonest life | A3 |
Pompilia whom last week I sainted so | H3 |
I it is teach the monk what scripture means | H3 |
And that the tongue should prove a two edged sword | U |
No axe sharp one side blunt the other way | D3 |
Like what amused the town at Guido's cost | U |
Astr a redux I've a second chance | H3 |
Before the self same Court o' the Governor | D3 |
Who soon shall see volte face and chop change sides | H3 |
Accordingly I charge you on your life | A3 |
Send me with all despatch the judgment late | U |
O' the Florence Rota Court confirmative | A3 |
O' the prior judgment at Arezzo clenched | U |
Again by the Granducal signature | D3 |
Wherein Pompilia is convicted doomed | U |
And only destined to escape through flight | U |
The proper punishment Send me the piece | H3 |
I'll work it And this foul mouthed friar shall find | U |
His Noah's dove that brought the olive back | E |
Is turned into the other sooty scout | U |
The raven Noah first of all put forth the ark | E |
And never came back but ate carcasses | H3 |
No adequate machinery in law | H |
No power of life and death i' the learned tongue | E |
Methinks I am already at my speech | V3 |
Startle the world with Thou Pompilia thus | H3 |
How is the fine gold of the Temple dim | I3 |
And so forth But the courier bids me close | H3 |
And clip away one joke that runs through Rome | I3 |
Side by side with the sermon which I send | U |
How like the heartlessness of the old hunks | H3 |
Arcangeli His Count is hardly cold | U |
His client whom his blunders sacrificed | U |
When somebody must needs describe the scene | M3 |
How the procession ended at the church | V3 |
That boasts the famous relic quoth our brute | U |
Why that's just Martial's phrase for 'make an end' | U |
Ad umbilicum sic perventum est | U |
The callous dog let who will cut off head | U |
He cuts a joke and cares no more than so | H3 |
I think my speech shall modify his mirth | D2 |
How is the fine gold dim but send the piece | H3 |
- | |
Alack Bottini what is my next word | U |
But death to all that hope The Instrument | U |
Is plain before me print that ends my Book | E |
With the definitive verdict of the Court | U |
Dated September six months afterward | U |
Such trouble and so long the old Pope gave | A3 |
In restitution of the perfect fame | I3 |
Of dead Pompilia quondam Guido's wife | A3 |
And warrant to her representative | A3 |
Domenico Tighetti barred hereby | U |
While doing duty in his guardianship | Y4 |
From all molesting all disquietude | U |
Each perturbation and vexation brought | U |
Or threatened to be brought against the heir | D3 |
By the Most Venerable Convent called | U |
Saint Mary Magdalen o' the Convertites | H3 |
I' the Corso | H3 |
- | |
Justice done a second time | I3 |
Well judged Marc Antony Locum tenens | H3 |
O' the Governor a Venturini too | U |
For which I save thy name last of the list | U |
- | |
Next year but one completing his nine years | H3 |
Of rule in Rome died Innocent my Pope | Y4 |
By some accounts on his accession day | U |
If he thought doubt would do the next age good | U |
'Tis pity he died unapprised what birth | D2 |
His reign may boast of be remembered by | U |
Terrible Pope too of a kind Voltaire | D3 |
- | |
And so an end of all i' the story Strain | M3 |
Never so much my eyes I miss the mark | E |
There lived or died that Gaetano child | U |
Of Guido and Pompilia only find | U |
Immediately upon his father's death | O4 |
A record in the annals of the town | M3 |
That Porzia sister of our Guido moved | U |
The Priors of Arezzo and their head | U |
Its Gonfalonier to give loyally | H3 |
A public attestation to the right | U |
O' the Franceschini to men's reverence | H3 |
Apparently because of the incident | U |
O' the murder there's no mention made of crime | I3 |
But what else caused such urgency to cure | D3 |
The mob just then of chronic greediness | H3 |
For scandal love of lying vanity | H3 |
And appetite to swallow crude reports | H3 |
That bring annoyance to their betters Bane | M3 |
Which here was promptly met by antidote | U |
I like and shall translate the eloquence | H3 |
Of nearly the worst Latin ever writ | U |
Since antique time whereof the memory | H3 |
Holds the beginning to this present hour | D3 |
Our Franceschini ever shone and shine | M3 |
Still i' the primary rank supreme amid | U |
The lustres of Arezzo proud to own | M3 |
In this great family her flag bearer | D3 |
Guide of her steps and guardian against foe | H3 |
As in the first beginning so to day | U |
There would you disbelieve stern History | H3 |
Trust rather to the babble of a bard | U |
I thought Arezzo thou hadst fitter souls | H3 |
Petrarch nay Buonarroti at a pinch | V3 |
To do thee credit as vexillifer | H3 |
Was it mere mirth the Patavinian meant | U |
Making thee out in his veracious page | K2 |
Founded by Janus of the Double Face | H3 |
- | |
Well proving of such perfect parentage | P3 |
Our Gaetano born of love and hate | U |
Did the babe live or die one fain would find | U |
What were his fancies if he grew a man | M3 |
Was he proud a true scion of the stock | E |
Of bearing blason shall make bright my Book | E |
Shield Azure on a Triple Mountain Or | H3 |
A Palm tree Proper whereunto is tied | U |
A Greyhound Rampant striving in the slips | H3 |
Or did he love his mother the base born | M3 |
And fight i' the ranks unnoticed by the world | U |
- | |
Such then the final state o' the story So | H3 |
Did the Star Wormwood in a blazing fall | H |
Frighten awhile the waters and lie lost | U |
So did this old woe fade from memory | H3 |
Till after in the fulness of the days | H3 |
I needs must find an ember yet unquenched | U |
And breathing blow the spark to flame It lives | H3 |
If precious be the soul of man to man | M3 |
So British Public who may like me yet | U |
Marry and amen learn one lesson hence | H3 |
Of many which whatever lives should teach | V3 |
This lesson that our human speech is naught | U |
Our human testimony false our fame | I3 |
And human estimation words and wind | U |
Why take the artistic way to prove so much | V3 |
Because it is the glory and good of Art | U |
That Art remains the one way possible | H |
Of speaking truth to mouths like mine at least | U |
How look a brother in the face and say | U |
Thy right is wrong eyes hast thou yet art blind | U |
Thine ears are stuffed and stopped despite their length | W3 |
And oh the foolishness thou countest faith | |
Say this as silverly as tongue can troll | H |
The anger of the man may be endured | U |
The shrug the disappointed eyes of him | I3 |
Are not so bad to bear but here's the plague | E |
That all this trouble comes of telling truth | L4 |
Which truth by when it reaches him looks false | H3 |
Seems to be just the thing it would supplant | U |
Nor recognisable by whom it left | U |
While falsehood would have done the work of truth | L4 |
But Art wherein man nowise speaks to men | M3 |
Only to mankind Art may tell a truth | L4 |
Obliquely do the thing shall breed the thought | U |
Nor wrong the thought missing the mediate word | U |
So may you paint your picture twice show truth | L4 |
Beyond mere imagery on the wall | H |
So note by note bring music from your mind | U |
Deeper than ever the Andante dived | U |
So write a book shall mean beyond the facts | H3 |
Suffice the eye and save the soul beside | U |
- | |
And save the soul If this intent save mine | M3 |
If the rough ore be rounded to a ring | E |
Render all duty which good ring should do | U |
And failing grace succeed in guardianship | Y4 |
Might mine but lie outside thine Lyric Love | A3 |
Thy rare gold ring of verse the poet praised | U |
Linking our England to his Italy | H3 |
Robert Browning
(1)
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