The sacred pile is reach’d; its chancel trod;
Around the altar, all in sight of God
Are reverently kneeling * * * Then they rise,
And one, there is, had need to wipe her eyes;—
This is that gentle one, who’s made a wife;—
Now Lady Mountjoy, for her mortal life!
* * * * *
The ceremony’s o’er; the bells peal out;
The villagers, again, raise high a shout.
Beneath a tree ’n the centre of the “green,”
A fiddle, flute, and a bass-violin,
Surrounded by a motley group, are playing
That well-adapted tune—“Haste to the wedding.”
Lord Arnold beckon’d to the “master man;”[252]
Whose hurry overturn’d the liquor-can!
His great misfortune soon is set aright,
By something pleasing to the fiddler’s sight;
For which he bowed: but, quickly turning ’round,
He tripp’d, and, falling sideways on the ground,
Smash’d in the “belly” of his instrument;
The wondering crowd burst out in merriment:
Himself, unhurt, beheld the mischief done,
And swore, with vengeance, on the “evil-one.”
(This self-conceited Jullien of the band,
Remember’d long the name of Hollybrand.)
[252] The leader of the band.