THE BEGGAR KING.

 

A en en

      

f f #:

The Beggars stumped and limped behind,
With wails and whines and groans —

“ Some in rags, and some in tags,
And some in velvet gowns.”

A great court-beauty’s splendid dress
Was there, all soiled and frayed;

The scarf, once bright, a belted knight if
Wore at his accolade ; %

A queen’s silk hose; a bishop’s robe;
A monarch’s funeral-pall;

The shoes, all mud, @ prince-o’-the-blood
Had danced in at a ball.

The Beggars stumped_and limped along,
Aping their old-time grace:

Upon the wind, flew out behind,
Ribbons of silk and lace. —

A wretched company it was
Around the city gate—

The sour and sad, the sick and bad,
And all disconsolate.

But in the wretched company
There was one dainty thing :

A maiden, white as still moonlight,
Who rode beside the king.

 

Her hands were full of apple-flowers
Plucked in the country lanes ;

Her little feet, like lilies sweet,
O’erlaced with violet veins,

 

Hung down beneath her tattered dress ;
A bank of lilies, showed
“Her shoulders fair; her dusky hair
Down to her girdle flowed.