United States or Trinidad and Tobago ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Presently quoth one who was somewhat the bolder of the twain to the other, 'If I thought thou wouldst keep my counsel, I would tell thee a thought which I have once and again had and which might perchance profit thee also. 'Speak in all assurance, answered the other, 'for certes I will never tell it to any. Then said the forward wench, 'I know not if thou have ever considered how straitly we are kept and how no man dare ever enter here, save the bailiff, who is old, and yonder dumb fellow; and I have again and again heard ladies, who come to visit us, say that all other delights in the world are but toys in comparison with that which a woman enjoyeth, whenas she hath to do with a man.
He wrings taxes from the poor; he robs all travelers that journey by his gates; he spends his days in feuds and murders, and his nights in revel and debauch; he roasts the fathers of the church upon his kitchen spits, and enjoyeth the same, calling it pastime. They whisper likewise that her daughter is a prisoner as well. Nay, good jugglers, seek ye refreshment other wheres.
And she went on to comfort me; but my cark and care ceased not to increase on me. Presently she brought me food which I kicked away with my foot so that the contents of every saucer were scattered in all directions, and I said, "Every lover is a madman; he inclineth not to food neither enjoyeth he sleep."
Trust not the roses which your youth enjoyeth, Sisters, to man's faith, changeful as the moon! Beauty to me brought guilt its bloom destroyeth Lo, in the judgment court I curse the boon Tears in the headsman's gaze what tears? 'tis spoken! Quick, bind mine eyes all soon shall be forgot Doomsman the lily hast thou never broken? Pale Doomsman tremble not!
He who so enjoyeth it may thank God for his winecup as for his daily bread; and he who abuseth the gift of Heaven is not a greater fool in his intoxication than thou in thine abstinence." The keen eye of the Saracen kindled at this sarcasm, and his hand sought the hilt of his poniard.
By imperfect I mean that which a man enjoyeth by himself. The perfect is that which he can sometimes attain in crowds, but nowhere so absolutely as in a Quakers' Meeting. Those first hermits did certainly understand this principle, when they retired into Egyptian solitudes, not singly, but in shoals, to enjoy one another's want of conversation.
Word Of The Day