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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Trumpeter, an Old English Tale</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">It was in the days of a gay British King<br>(In the old fashion'd custom of merry-making)<br>The Palace of Woodstock with revels did ring,<br>While they sang and carous'd--one and all:<br>For the monarch a plentiful treasury had,<br>And his Courtiers were pleas'd, and no visage was sad,<br>And the knavish and foolish with drinking were mad,<br>While they sat in the Banquetting hall.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Some talk'd of their Valour, and some of their Race,<br>And vaunted, till vaunting was black in the face;<br>Some bragg'd for a title, and some for a place,<br>And, like braggarts, they bragg'd one and all!<br>Some spoke of their scars in the Holy Crusade,<br>Some boasted the banner of Fame they display'd,<br>And some sang their Loves in the soft serenade<br>As they sat in the Banquetting hall.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And here sat a Baron, and there sat a Knight,<br>And here stood a Page in his habit all bright,<br>And here a young Soldier in armour bedight<br>With a Friar carous'd, one and all.<br>Some play'd on the dulcimer, some on the lute,<br>And some, who had nothing to talk of, were mute,<br>Till the Morning, awakened, put on her grey suit--<br>And the Lark hover'd over the Hall.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">It was in a vast gothic Hall that they sate,<br>And the Tables were cover'd with rich gilded plate,<br>And the King and his minions were toping in state,<br>Till their noddles turn'd round, one and all:--<br>And the Sun through the tall painted windows 'gan peep,<br>And the Vassals were sleeping, or longing to sleep,<br>Though the Courtiers, still waking, their revels did keep,<br>While the minstrels play'd sweet, in the Hall.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And, now in their Cups, the bold topers began<br>To call for more wine, from the cellar yeoman,<br>And, while each one replenish'd his goblet or can,<br>The Monarch thus spake to them all:<br>"It is fit that the nobles do just what they please,<br>"That the Great live in idleness, riot, and ease,<br>"And that those should be favor'd, who mark my decrees,<br>"And should feast in the Banquetting Hall.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">"It is fit," said the Monarch, "that riches should claim<br>"A passport to freedom, to honor, and fame,--<br>"That the poor should be humble, obedient, and tame,<br>"And, in silence, submit--one and all.<br>"That the wise and the holy should toil for the Great,<br>"That the Vassals should tend at the tables of state,<br>"That the Pilgrim should--pray for our souls at the gate<br>"While we feast in our Banquetting Hall.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">"That the low-lineag'd CARLES should be scantily fed--<br>"That their drink should be small, and still smaller their bread;<br>"That their wives and their daughters to ruin be led,<br>"And submit to our will, one and all !<br>"It is fit, that whoever I choose to defend--<br>"Shall be courted, and feasted, and lov'd as a friend,<br>"While before them the good and enlighten'd shall bend,<br>"While they sit in the Banquetting Hall."</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Now the Topers grew bold, and each talk'd of his right,<br>One would fain be a Baron, another a Knight;<br>And another, (because at the Tournament fight<br>He had vanquished his foes, one and all)<br>Demanded a track of rich lands; and rich fare;<br>And of stout serving Vassals a plentiful share;<br>With a lasting exemption from penance and pray'r<br>And a throne in the Banquetting Hall.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But ONE, who had neither been valiant nor wise,<br>With a tone of importance, thus vauntingly cries,<br>"My Leige he knows how a good subject to prize--<br>"And I therefore demand--before all--<br>"I this Castle possess: and the right to maintain<br>"Five hundred stout Bowmen to follow my train,<br>"And as many strong Vassals to guard my domain<br>"As the Lord of the Banquetting Hall!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">"I have fought with all nations, and bled in the field,<br>"See my lance is unshiver'd, tho' batter'd my shield,<br>"I have combatted legions, yet never would yield<br>"And the Enemy fled--one and all !<br>"I have rescued a thousand fair Donnas, in Spain,<br>"I have left in gay France, every bosom in pain.<br>"I have conquer'd the Russian, the Prussian, the Dane,<br>"And will reign in the Banquetting Hall!"</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The Monarch now rose, with majestical look,<br>And his sword from the scabbard of Jewels he took,<br>And the Castle with laughter and ribaldry shook.<br>While the braggart accosted thus he:<br>"I will give thee a place that will suit thy demand,<br>"What to thee, is more fitting than Vassals or Land--<br>"I will give thee,--what justice and valour command,<br>"For a TRUMPETER bold--thou shalt be!"</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Now the revellers rose, and began to complain--<br>While they menanc'd with gestures, and frown'd with disdain,<br>And declar'd, that the nobles were fitter to reign<br>Than a Prince so unruly as He.<br>But the Monarch cried, sternly, they taunted him so,<br>"From this moment the counsel of fools I forego--<br>"And on Wisdom and Virtue will honors bestow<br>"For such, ONLY, are welcome to Me!"</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">So saying, he quitted the Banquetting Hall,<br>And leaving his Courtiers and flatterers all--<br>Straightway for his Confessor loudly 'gan call<br>"O ! Father ! now listen !" said he:<br>"I have feasted the Fool, I have pamper'd the Knave,<br>"I have scoff'd at the wise, and neglected the brave--<br>"And here, Holy Man, Absolution I crave--<br>"For a penitent now I will be."</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=455729" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">From that moment the Monarch grew sober and good,<br>(And nestled with Birds of a different brood,)<br>For he found that the pathway which wisdom pursu'd<br>Was pleasant, safe, quiet, and even !<br>That by Temperance, Virtue and liberal deeds,<br>By nursing the flowrets, and crushing the weeds,<br>The loftiest Traveller always succeeds--<br>For his journey will lead him to HEAV'N.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Mary+Darby+Robinson">Mary Darby Robinson</a></strong></div>