Page:Maid Marian - Peacock (1822).djvu/37

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Maid Marian.
27

redness indeed being the visible sign of all other virtues."

"Whence," said Brother Michael, "we choose our abbot by his nose:

The rose on the nose doth all virtues disclose:
For the outward grace shows
That the inward overflows,
When it glows in the rose of a red, red nose."

"Now," said the little friar, "as is the firmness so is the redness, and as is the redness so is the shyness."

"Marry why?" said brother Michael. "The solution is not physical-natural, but physical-historical, or natural-superinductive. And thereby hangs a tale, which may be either said or sung:

The damsel stood to watch the fight
By the banks of Kingslea Mere,
And they brought to her feet her own true knight
Sore-wounded on a bier.