Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/238

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
214
STORIES FROM OLD ENGLISH POETRY.

Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live i’ th’ sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleased with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.”’

Meanwhile, in the palace of Duke Frederick the beautiful Rosalind had grown to be a tall and graceful maiden. She lived with her cousin Celia, and was beloved by those in the palace, and idolized by the people, who sympathized with her father’s wrongs. She could not have been consoled for the banishment of her dear father, if it had not been for her cousin Celia, whose love for her “was dearer than the natural bond of sisters.” Rosalind was the lovelier and more gifted of the two girls, but Celia felt no jealousy on that account. To hear her lovely cousin praised, to know that all loved her, was to Celia the greatest delight in the world. Indeed, her goodness to Rosalind was so great, that to all beholders it covered her father’s vices with a mantle of sweet charity, so that many forbore to censure him, for the sake of his gentle daughter.

It happened that one of the largest estates in