Immoral ditties are their delight;
Vain and tasteless praise they recite;
Falsehood at all times do they utter;
The innocent persons they ridicule;
In idleness without work they feed themselves;
The Church they hate, and the tavern they frequent;
With thieves and perjured fellows they associate;
At courts they inquire after feasts;
Every senseless word they bring forward;
Every deadly sin they praise;
Every vile course of life they lead;
Through every village, town, and country they stroll;
Concerning the gripe of death they think not;
Neither lodging nor charity do they give;
Indulging in victuals to excess.
Psalms or prayers they do not use,
Tithes or offerings to God they do not pay,
On holidays or Sundays they do not worship;
Vigils or festivals they do not heed.
The birds do fly, the fish do swim,
The bees collect honey, worms do crawl,
Every thing travails to obtain its food,
Except minstrels and lazy useless thieves.
I deride neither song nor minstrelsy,
For they are given by God to lighten thought;
But him who abuses them,
For blaspheming Jesus and his service."
Taliesin having set his master free from prison, and having protected
his wife, and silenced the bards, so that not one of them dared to say
a word, now brought Elphin's wife before them, and showed that she had
not one finger wanting. Right glad was Elphin, right glad was Taliesin.
* * * * *
_BY SIDNEY LANIER_
POEMS
SELECT POEMS OF SIDNEY LANIER
BOB
LETTERS OF SIDNEY LANIER
RETROSPECTS AND PROSPECTS
MUSIC AND POETRY
THE ENGLISH NOVEL
THE SCIENCE OF ENGLISH VERSE
THE LANIER BOOK
SELECTIONS FROM SIDNEY LANIER
_BOY'S LIBRARY OF LEGEND AND CHIVALRY_
THE BOY'S FROISSART
THE BOY'S KING ARTHUR
KNIGHTLY LEGENDS OF WALES
THE BOY'S PERCY
_CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS_