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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431365" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Falcon</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">I RECOLLECT, that lately much I blamed,<br>The sort of lover, avaricious named;<br>And if in opposites we reason see,<br>The liberal in paradise should be.<br>The rule is just and, with the warmest zeal,<br>To prove the fact I to the CHURCH appeal.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IN Florence once there dwelled a gentle youth,<br>Who loved a certain beauteous belle with truth;<br>O'er all his actions she had full control;--<br>To please he would have sold his very soul.<br>If she amusements wished, he'd lavish gold,<br>Convinced in love or war you should be bold;<br>The cash ne'er spare:--invincible its pow'rs,<br>O'erturning walls or doors where'er it show'rs.<br>The precious ore can every thing o'ercome;<br>'Twill silence barking curs: make servants dumb;<br>And these can render eloquent at will:--<br>Excel e'en Tully in persuasive skill;<br>In short he'd leave no quarter unsubdued,<br>Unless therein the fair he could include.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">SHE stood th' attack howe'er, and Frederick failed;<br>His force was vain whenever he assailed;<br>Without the least return his wealth he spent:<br>Lands, houses, manors of immense extent,<br>Were ev'ry now and then to auction brought;<br>To gratify his love was all he thought.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE rank of 'squire till lately he had claimed;<br>Now scarcely was he even mister named;<br>Of wealth by Cupid's stratagems bereft,<br>A single farm was all the man had left;<br>Friends very few, and such as God alone,<br>Could tell if friendship they might not disown;<br>The best were led their pity to express;<br>'Twas all he got: it could not well be less;<br>To lend without security was wrong,<br>And former favours they'd forgotten long;<br>With all that Frederick could or say or do,<br>His liberal conduct soon was lost to view.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WITH Clytia he no longer was received,<br>Than while he was a man of wealth believed;<br>Balls, concerts, op'ras, tournaments, and plays,<br>Expensive dresses, all engaging ways,<br>Were used to captivate this lady fair,<br>While scarcely one around but in despair,<br>Wife, widow, maid, his fond affection sought;<br>To gain him, ev'ry wily art was brought;<br>But all in vain:--by passion overpow'red,<br>The belle, whose conduct others would have soured,<br>To him appeared a goddess full of charms,<br>Superior e'en to Helen, in his arms;<br>From whence we may conclude, the beauteous dame<br>Was always deaf to Fred'rick's ardent flame.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ENAMOURED of the belle, his lands he sold;<br>The family estates were turned to gold;<br>And many who the purchases had made,<br>With pelf accumulated by their trade,<br>Assumed the airs of men of noble birth:--<br>Fair subjects oft for ridicule and mirth!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">RICH Clytia was, and her good spouse, 'tis said,<br>Had lands which far and wide around were spread;<br>No cash nor presents she would ever take,<br>Yet suffered Frederick splendid treats to make,<br>Without designing recompense to grant,<br>Or being more than merely complaisant.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ALREADY, if my mem'ry do not fail,<br>I've said, the youth's estates were put to sale,<br>To pay for feasts the fair to entertain,<br>And what he'd left was only one domain,<br>A petty farm to which he now retired;<br>Ashamed to show where once so much admired,<br>And wretched too, a prey to lorn despair,<br>Unable to obtain by splendid care,<br>A beauty he'd pursued six years and more,<br>And should for ever fervently adore.<br>His want of merit was the cause he thought,<br>That she could never to his wish be brought,<br>While from him not a syllable was heard,<br>Against the lovely belle his soul preferred.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'MID poverty oft Fred'rick sighed and wept;<br>A toothless hag--his only servant kept;<br>His kitchen cold; (where commonly he dwelled <br>A pretty decent horse his stable held;<br>A falcon too; and round about the grange,<br>Our quondam 'squire repeatedly would range,<br>Where oft, to melancholy, he was led,<br>To sacrifice the game which near him fed;<br>By Clytia's cruelty the gun was seized,<br>And feathered victims black chagrin appeased.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'TWAS thus the lover whiled his hours away;<br>His heart-felt torments nothing could allay;<br>Blessed if with fortune love he'd also lost,<br>Which constantly his earthly comforts crossed;<br>But this lorn passion preyed upon his mind:--<br>Where'er he rode, BLACK CARE would mount behind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">DEATH took at length the husband of the fair;<br>An only son appointed was his heir,<br>A sickly child, whose life, 'twas pretty plain,<br>Could scarcely last till spring returned again,<br>Which made the husband, by his will, decree,<br>His wife the infant's successor should be,<br>In case the babe at early years should die,<br>Who soon grew worse and raised the widow's sigh.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">TOO much affection parents ne'er can show:--<br>A mother's feelings none but mothers know.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">FAIR Clytia round her child with anxious care,<br>Watched day and night, and no expense would spare;<br>Inquired if this or that would please his taste;<br>What he desired should be procured with haste;<br>But nothing would he have that she proposed;<br>An ardent wish howe'er the boy disclosed,<br>For Fred'rick's Falcon, and most anxious grew:--<br>Tear followed tear, and nothing else would do.<br>When once a child has got a whim in brain,<br>No peace, no rest, till he the boon obtain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WE should observe our belle, near Fred'rick's cot,<br>A handsome house and many lands had got;<br>'Twas there the lovely babe had lately heard,<br>Most wondrous stories of the bird averred;<br>No partridge e'er escaped its rapid wing:--<br>On every morn down numbers it would bring;<br>No money for it would its owner take;<br>Much grieved was Clytia such request to make.<br>The man, for her, of wealth had been bereft;<br>How ask the only treasure he had left?<br>And him if she were led to importune,<br>Could she expect that he'd accord the boon?<br>Alas! ungratefully she oft repaid,<br>His liberal treats, his concerts, serenade,<br>And haughtily behaved from first to last:<br>How be so bold, (reflecting on the past,)<br>To see the man that she so ill had used?<br>And ask a favour?--could she be excused?<br>But then her child!--perhaps his life 'twould save;<br>Naught would he take; the falcon she must crave.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THAT her sweet babe might be induced to eat,<br>So meant the bird of Fred'rick to intreat;<br>Her boy was heard continually to cry,<br>Unless he had the falcon, he should die.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THESE reasons strongly with the mother weighed;<br>Her visit to the 'squire was not delayed;<br>With fond affection for her darling heir,<br>One morn, alone she sought the lorn repair.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">TO Fred'rick's eye an angel she appeared;<br>But shame he felt, that she, his soul revered,<br>Should find him poor:--no servants to attend,<br>Nor means to give a dinner to a friend.<br>The poverty in which he now was viewed,<br>Distressed his mind and all his griefs renewed.<br>Why come? said he; what led you thus to trace,<br>An humble slave of your celestial face?<br>A villager, a wretched being here;<br>Too great the honour doubtless must appear;<br>'Twas somewhere else you surely meant to go?<br>The lady in a moment answered no.<br>Cried he, I've neither cook nor kettle left;<br>Then how can I receive you, thus bereft?<br>But you have bread, said Clytia:--that will do;--<br>The lover quickly to the poultry flew,<br>In search of eggs; some bacon too he found;<br>But nothing else, except the hawk renowned,<br>Which caught his eye, and instantly was seized,<br>Slain, plucked, and made a fricassee that pleased.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MEANWHILE the house-keeper for linen sought;<br>Knives, forks, plates, spoons, cups, glass and chairs she<br>brought;<br>The fricassee was served, the dame partook,<br>And on the dish with pleasure seemed to look.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE dinner o'er, the widow then resolved,<br>To ask the boon which in her mind resolved.<br>She thus begun:--good sir, you'll think me mad,<br>To come and to your breast fresh trouble add;<br>I've much to ask, and you will feel surprise,<br>That one, for whom your love could ne'er suffice,<br>Should now request your celebrated bird;<br>Can I expect the grant?--the thought 's absurd<br>But pardon pray a mother's anxious fear;<br>'Tis for my child:--his life to me is dear.<br>The falcon solely can the infant save;<br>Yet since to you I nothing ever gave,<br>For all your kindness oft on me bestowed;<br>Your fortune wasted:--e'en your nice abode,<br>Alas! disposed of, large supplies to raise,<br>To entertain and please in various ways:<br>I cannot hope this falcon to obtain;<br>For sure I am the expectation's vane;<br>No, rather perish child and mother too;<br>Than such uneasiness should you pursue:<br>Allow howe'er this parent, I beseech,<br>Who loves her offspring 'yond the pow'r of speech,<br>Or language to express, her only boy,<br>Sole hope, sole comfort, all her earthly joy,<br>True mother like, to seek her child's relief,<br>And in your breast deposit now her grief.<br>Affection's pow'r none better know than you,--<br>How few to love were ever half so true!<br>From such a bosom I may pardon crave<br>Soft pity's ever with the good and brave!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ALAS! the wretched lover straight replied,<br>The bird was all I could for you provide;<br>'Twas served for dinner.--Dead?--exclaimed the dame,<br>While trembling terror overspread her frame.<br>No jest, said he, and from the soul I wish,<br>My heart, instead of that, had been the dish;<br>But doomed alas! am I by fate, 'tis clear,<br>To find no grace with her my soul holds dear:<br>I'd nothing left; and when I saw the bird,<br>To kill it instantly the thought occurred;<br>Those naught we grudge nor spare to entertain,<br>Who o'er our feeling bosoms sov'reign reign:<br>All I can do is speedily to get,<br>Another falcon: easily they're met;<br>And by to-morrow I'll the bird procure.<br>No, Fred'rick, she replied, I now conjure<br>You'll think no more about it; what you've done<br>Is all that fondness could have shown a son;<br>And whether fate has doomed the child to die,<br>Or with my prayers the pow'rs above comply;<br>For you my gratitude will never end--<br>Pray let us hope to see you as a friend.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THEN Clytia took her leave, and gave her hand;<br>A proof his love no more she would withstand.<br>He kissed and bathed her fingers with his tears;<br>The second day grim death confirmed their fears:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE mourning lasted long and mother's grief;<br>But days and months at length bestowed relief;<br>No wretchedness so great, we may depend,<br>But what, to time's all-conqu'ring sithe will bend:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">TWO famed physicians managed with such care;<br>That they recovered her from wild despair,<br>And tears gave place to cheerfulness and joy:-<br>The one was TIME the other Venus' Boy.<br>Her hand fair Clytia on the youth bestowed,<br>As much from love as what to him she owed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LET not this instance howsoe'r mislead;<br>'Twere wrong with hope our fond desires to feed,<br>And waste our substance thus:--not all the FAIR,<br>Possess of gratitude a decent share.<br>With this exception they appear divine;<br>In lovely WOMAN angel-charms combine;<br>The whole indeed I do not here include;<br>Alas; too many act the jilt and prude.<br>When kind, they're ev'ry blessing found below:<br>When otherwise a curse we often know.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=La+Fontaine">La Fontaine</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431365" data-title="The Falcon de La Fontaine" data-description="I RECOLLECT, that lately much I blamed,
The sort of lover, avaricious named;
And if in opposites we reason see,
The liberal in paradise should be.
The rule is just and, with the warmest zeal,
To prove the fact I to the CHURCH appeal.

IN Florence ..."></div>
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