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INTRODUCTION TO
CUMNOR HALL.
The dews of summer night did fall;
The moon, sweet regent of the sky,
Silver’d the walls of Cumnor Hall,
And many an oak that grew thereby.
The moon, sweet regent of the sky,
Silver’d the walls of Cumnor Hall,
And many an oak that grew thereby.
Now nought was heard beneath the skies,
The sounds of busy life were still,
Save an unhappy lady’s sighs,
That issued from that lonely pile.
The sounds of busy life were still,
Save an unhappy lady’s sighs,
That issued from that lonely pile.
“Leicester,” she cried, “is this thy love
That thou so oft has sworn to me,
To leave me in this lonely grove,
Immured in shameful privity?
That thou so oft has sworn to me,
To leave me in this lonely grove,
Immured in shameful privity?
“No more thou com’st with lover’s speed,
Thy once beloved bride to see;
But be she alive, or be she dead,
I fear, stern Earl,’s the same to thee,
Thy once beloved bride to see;
But be she alive, or be she dead,
I fear, stern Earl,’s the same to thee,
“Not so the usage I received
When happy in my father’s hall;
No faithless husband then me grieved,
No chilling fears did me appal.
When happy in my father’s hall;
No faithless husband then me grieved,
No chilling fears did me appal.
“I rose up with the cheerful morn,
No lark more blithe, no flower more gay;
And like the bird that haunts the thorn,
So merrily sung the livelong day.
No lark more blithe, no flower more gay;
And like the bird that haunts the thorn,
So merrily sung the livelong day.
“If that my beauty is but small,
Among court ladies all despised,
Why didst thou rend it from that hall,
Where, scornful Earl, it well was prized?
Among court ladies all despised,
Why didst thou rend it from that hall,
Where, scornful Earl, it well was prized?
