20 PRINCE PRIGIO.

 

~ Enrico was present when Prigio was consoling
the king in this unfeeling way.

' “Enrico, my boy,” said his majesty, “the
task awaits you, and the honour. When you
come back with the horns and tail of the Fire-
drake, you shall be crown prince; and Prigio
shall be made an usher at the Grammar School
—it is all he is fit for.”

Enrico was not quite so confident as Alphonso .
had been. He insisted on making his will;
and he wrote a poem about the pleasures
and advantages of dying young. This is
part of it:

The violet is a blossom sweet,
-That dvoops befove the day is donc—
Slain by thine overpowering heat,
.O Sun!

And I, like that sweet purple flower,

_ May roast, or boil, or broil, or bake,

If burned by thy terrific power,
Fivedrake !

This poem comforted Enrico more or less,
and he showed it to Prigio. But the prince
only laughed, and said that the second line of
the last verse was not very good ; for violets do
not ‘‘roast, or boil, or broil, or bake.” _

Enrico tried to improve it, but could not.
So he read it to his cousin, Lady Kathleena,
just as it was; and she cried over it (though I