The banquet-board is spread in bounteous style,
And every face around it bears a smile;
With fruit and flowers the hall is well perfumed;
The bridal-cake’s dealt out; the goblet’s toomed,
And all is harmony: joy’s dominant:
Within, the very walls seem resonant—
As with the echoings of gay scenes of yore,
But none had ever equall’d this before.
From noon, until the solemn midnight-hour,
Heaven vouchsafed one unabated show’r
Of mirthfulness, of prudent revelry,
Of one enchanting scene of gaiety;
Such as will be historical.