III.
24 lines✦
he Abbess was of noble blood,But early took the veil and hood,Ere upon life she cast a look,Or knew the world that she forsook.Fair too she was, and kind had beenAs she was fair, but ne’er had seenFor her a timid lover sigh,Nor knew the influence of her eye.Love, to her ear, was but a name,Combined with vanity and shame;Her hopes, her fears, her joys, were allBounded within the cloister wall:The deadliest sin her mind could reachWas of monastic rule the breach;And her ambition’s highest aimTo emulate Saint Hilda’s fame.For this she gave her ample dower,To raise the convent’s eastern tower;For this, with carving rare and quaint,She decked the chapel of the saint,And gave the relic-shrine of cost,With ivory and gems embossed.The poor her convent’s bounty blest,The pilgrim in its halls found rest.
✦