The Project Gutenberg eBook, How Lisa Loved the King, by George Eliot

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Title: How Lisa Loved the King

Author: George Eliot

Release Date: March 13, 2007 [eBook #20813]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW LISA LOVED THE KING***

Transcribed from the 1884 D. Lothrop and Company edition by David Price,
email ccx074@pglaf.org

{Book cover: cover.jpg}

HOW LISA LOVED THE KING

BY
GEORGE ELIOT
AUTHOR OF "DANIEL DERONDA," "MIDDLEMARCH,"
"ADAM BEDE," ETC., ETC

WITH NEW ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS

BOSTON
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY
FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS

Copyright by
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY
1884

_Presswork by Berwick & Smith_, _118 Purchase Street_, _Boston_.

{Knight on horse: p0.jpg}

How Lisa loved the King.

Six hundred years ago, in Dante's time,
Before his cheek was furrowed by deep rhyme;
When Europe, fed afresh from Eastern story,
Was like a garden tangled with the glory
Of flowers hand-planted and of flowers air-sown,
Climbing and trailing, budding and full-blown,
Where purple bells are tossed amid pink stars,
And springing blades, green troops in innocent wars,
Crowd every shady spot of teeming earth,
Making invisible motion visible birth,--

Six hundred years ago, Palermo town
Kept holiday. A deed of great renown,
A high revenge, had freed it from the yoke
Of hated Frenchmen; and from Calpe's rock
To where the Bosporus caught the earlier sun,
'Twas told that Pedro, King of Aragon,
Was welcomed master of all Sicily,--
A royal knight, supreme as kings should be
In strength and gentleness that make high chivalry.

Spain was the favorite home of knightly grace,
Where generous men rode steeds of generous race;
Both Spanish, yet half Arab; both inspired
By mutual spirit, that each motion fired
With beauteous response, like minstrelsy
Afresh fulfilling fresh expectancy.
So, when Palermo made high festival,
The joy of matrons and of maidens all
Was the mock terror of the tournament,
Where safety, with the glimpse of danger blent,
Took exaltation as from epic song,
Which greatly tells the pains that to great li