82 THE PRINCESS
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o guerdon silence, mounted our good steeds,And boldly ventured on the liberties. We follow’d up the river as we rode,And rode till midnight when the college lightsBegan to glitter firefly-like in copse 205And linden alley : then we past an arch,Whereon a woman-statue rose with wingsFrom four wing’d horses dark against the stars.And some inscription ran along the front,But deep in shadow : further on we gain’d 210A little street half garden and half house ;But scarce could hear each other speak for noiseOf clocks and chimes, like silver hammers fallingOn silver anvils, and the splash and stirOf fountains spouted up and showering down 215In meshes of the jasmine and the rose:And all about us peal’d the nightingale,Rapt in her song, and carcless of the snare. There stood a bust of Pallas for a, sign,By two sphere lamps blazon’d like Heaven and EarthWith constellation and with continent, 221Above an entry : riding in, we eall’d ;A plump-armed Ostleress and a stable wenchCame running at the call, and help’d us down.Then stept a buxom hostess forth, and sail’d, 225
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