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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431388" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Psalter</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">ONCE more permit me, nuns, and this the last;<br>I can't resist, whatever may have passed,<br>But must relate, what often I've been told;<br>Your tales of convent pranks are seldom cold;<br>They have a grace that no where else we find,<br>And, somehow, better seem to please designed.<br>Another then we'll have, which three will make:--<br>Three did I say?-'tis four, or I mistake;<br>Let's count them well:-The GARD'NER first, we'll name;<br>Then comes the ABBESS, whose declining frame<br>Required a youth, her malady to cure<br>A story thought, perhaps, not over pure;<br>And, as to SISTER JANE, who'd got a brat,<br>I cannot fancy we should alter that.<br>These are the whole, and four's a number round;<br>You'll probably remark, 'tis strange I've found<br>Such pleasure in detailing convent scenes:--<br>'Tis not my whim, but TASTE, that thither leans:<br>And, if you'd kept your breviary in view,<br>'Tis clear, you'd nothing had with this to do;<br>We know, howe'er, 'tis not your fondest care;<br>So, quickly to our hist'ry let's repair.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A CHARMING youth would frequent visits pay,<br>To nuns, whose convent near his dwelling lay;<br>And, 'mong the sisters, one his person saw,<br>Who, by her eyes, would fain attention draw;<br>Smiles she bestowed, and other complaisance,<br>But not a single step would he advance;<br>By old and young he greatly was admired;<br>Sighs burst around, but none his bosom fired.<br>Fair Isabella solely got his love,<br>A beauteous nun, and gentle as a dove,<br>Till then a novice in the flow'ry chain,<br>And envied doubly:--for her charms and swain.<br>Their soft amours were watched with eagle-eye:<br>No pleasure's free from care you may rely;<br>In life each comfort coupled is with ill,<br>And this to alter baffles all our skill.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE sister nuns so vigilant had been,<br>One night when darkness overspread the scene;<br>And all was proper mysteries to hide,<br>Some words escaped her cell that doubts supplied,<br>And other matters too were heard around,<br>That in her breviary could not be found.<br>'Tis her gallant! said they: he's clearly caught;<br>Alarm pervaded; swarms were quickly brought;<br>Rage seemed to triumph; sentinels were placed;<br>The abbess too must know they were disgraced.<br>Away they hastened to convey surprise,<br>And, thund'ring at her door, cried, madam rise,<br>For sister Isabella, in her cell,<br>Has got a man, which surely can't be well.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">YOU will observe, the dame was not at prayer,<br>Nor yet absorbed in sleep, devoid of care,<br>But with her then, this abbess had in bed<br>Good parson John, by kindness thither led,<br>A neighb'ring rector, confessor, and friend;<br>She rose in haste the sisters to attend,<br>And, seeking for her veil, with sense confused,<br>The parson's breeches took for what she used,<br>Which, in the dark, resembled what was worn<br>By nuns for veils, and called (perhaps in scorn),<br>Among themselves, their PSALTER, to express<br>Familiarly, a common, awkward dress.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WITH this new ornament, by way of veil,<br>She sallied forth and heard the woeful tale.<br>Then, irritated, she exclaimed with ire<br>To see this wretched creature I desire,<br>The devil's daughter, from her bold career,<br>Who'll bring our convent to disgrace, I fear;<br>But God forbid, I say, and with his leave,<br>We'll all restore:--rebuke she shall receive.<br>A chapter we will call:--the sisters came,<br>And stood around to hear their pious dame.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">FAIR Isabella now the abbess sent,<br>Who straight obeyed, and to her tears gave vent,<br>Which overspread those lily cheeks and eyes,<br>A roguish youth so lately held his prize.<br>What! said the abbess: pretty scandal here,<br>When in the house of God such things appear;<br>Ashamed to death you ought to be, no doubt,<br>Who brought you thither?--such we always scout.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">NOW Isabella, (--sister you must lose,<br>Henceforth, that name to you we cannot use;<br>The honour is too great,) in such a case,<br>Pray are you sensible of your disgrace,<br>And what's the punishment you'll undergo?<br>Before to-morrow, this you'll fully know;<br>Our institution chastisement decrees;<br>Come speak, I say, we'll hear you if you please.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">POOR Isabella, with her sight on ground,<br>Confused, till then had scarcely looked around,<br>Now raised her eyes, and luckily perceived<br>The breeches, which her fears in part relieved,<br>And that the sisters, by surprise unnerved,<br>As oft's the case, had never once observed.<br>She courage took, and to the abbess said,<br>There's something from the Psalter, on your head,<br>That awkwardly hangs down; pray, madam, try<br>To put it right, or 'twill be in your eye.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'TWAS knee-strings, worn, at times, by priests and beaux,<br>For, more or less, all follow fashion's laws.<br>This veil, no doubt, had very much the air<br>Of those unmentionables parsons wear;<br>And this the nun, to frolicking inclined,<br>It seems had well impressed upon her mind.<br>What, cried the abbess, dares she still to sneer?<br>How great her insolence to laugh and jeer,<br>When sins so heavily upon her rest,<br>And ev'ry thing remains quite unconfessed.<br>Upon my word, she'd be a saint decreed;<br>My veil, young imp, your notice cannot need;<br>'Tis better think, you little hellish crow,<br>What pains your soul must undergo below.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE mother abbess sermonized and fired,<br>And seemed as if her tongue would ne'er be tired.<br>Again the culprit said, your Psalter, pray,<br>Good madam, haste to set the proper way;<br>On which the sisters looked, both young and old<br>THOSE 'gan to laugh, while THESE were heard to scold.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">OUR preacher, quite ashamed of what she'd done,<br>Now lost her voice, and noticed not the nun;<br>The murmur buzzed around, too well expressed,<br>What thoughts the holy sisterhood possessed.<br>At length the abbess said:--we've now not time<br>To take the chapter's votes upon her crime;<br>'Twould make it late; let each to bed return,<br>And, till to-morrow, we'll the case adjourn.<br>No chapter met, howe'er, when morrow came;<br>Another day arrived, and still the same;<br>The sages of the convent thought it best,<br>In fact, to let the mystick business rest.<br>Much noise, perhaps, would hurt religion's cause,<br>And, that considered, prudent 'twere to pause.<br>Base envy made them Isabella hate,<br>And dark suspicions to the abbess state.<br>In short, unable by their schemes to get<br>The morsel she'd so fortunately met,<br>Each nun exerted all her art to find,<br>What equally might satisfy the mind.<br>Old friends were willingly received again;<br>Her gallant our belle was suffered to retain;<br>The rector and the abbess had their will;<br>And, such their union, precepts to fulfill,<br>That if a nun had none to give her bliss,<br>To lend a friend was nothing thought amiss.</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=431388" data-title="The Psalter de La Fontaine" data-description="ONCE more permit me, nuns, and this the last;
I can't resist, whatever may have passed,
But must relate, what often I've been told;
Your tales of convent pranks are seldom cold;
They have a grace that no where else we find,
And, somehow, better se..."></div>
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