All wild to found an University
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or maidens, on the spur she fled ; and more 150 124. The failure of the olive crop was a matter of greater importance to the king than was the marriage of his daughter. ed136-137. lose the child, assume the woman, cease to be submissive,assert their rights as mature beings. Cf. Prologue, 133. 3) THE PRINCESS We know not,—only this : they see no men,Not ev’n her brother Arac, nor the twinsHer brethren, tho’ they love her, look upon herAs on a kind of paragon; and I(Pardon me saying it) were much loth to breed 155Dispute betwixt myself and mine: but since(And I confess with right) you think me boundIn some sort, I can give you letters to her ;And yet, to speak the truth, I rate your chanceAlmost at naked nothing.”Thus the king ; 160And I, tho’ nettled that he seem’d to slurWith garrulous ease and oily courtesiesOur formal compact, yet, not less (all fretsBut chafing me on fire to find my bride)Went forth again with both my friends. Werode 165Many a long league back to the North. At lastFrom hills that look’d across a land of hopeWe dropt with evening on a rustic townSet in a gleaming river’s crescent-curve,Close at the boundary of the liberties ; 170There, enter’d an old hostel, call’d mine hostTo council, plied him with his richest wines,And show’d the late-writ letters of the king. He, with a long low sibilation, stared 158 in some sort, toa certain extent. 163. frets, hindrances, impediments ; fret is here used in its etymo-logical sense of friction. 167. a land of hope, because it contained that for which he hoped, i.e.,the Princess. _ 170, the liberties, an English legal term. Here is meant the estate ofwhich the Princess had been given possession by her father, and overwhich she exercises jurisdiction. , 171 hostel, tavern, inn. 174. sibilation, the low whistle of surprise, a es te art ed
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