Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The poetical works of Alfred Tennyson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material is part of the Elmer Belt Florence Nightingale collection. The original may be consulted at University of California Libraries.
770/870 page 734
![Enter Margery. I ha' been but a week here and I ha' seen what I lia' seen, for to be sure it's no more than a week since our old Fatlier Philip that has confessed our niotlier for twenty years, and she was hard put to it, and to speak truth, nij;h at the end of our last crust, and that mouldy, and she cried out on him to put me forth in tiie world and to make me a woman of the world, and to win my own bread, whereupon he asked our mother if I corild keep a quiet tongue i' my head, and not speak till I was spoke to, and I answered for myself tiiat I never spoke more than was needed, and he told me he would advance me to the service of a great lady, and took me ever so far away, and gave me a great pat o' the cheek for a pretty weucli, and said it was a pity to blindfold such eyes as mine, and such to i>e sure they be, but he blinded 'em forall that, and si^ brought me no-hows as I may say, and the more shame to him after his promise, into a garden and not into the world, and bade me whatever I saw not to sjjeak one word, an' it 'ud be well for me in tlie end, for there were great ones who would look af- ter me, and to be sure I ha' seen great ones to-day — and then not to speak one word, for tiiat 's the rule o' the garden, tho' to be sure if I had been Eve i' the garden I should n't ha' minded the apple, for what's an apple, you know, save to a child, and I 'm no child, but more a wo- man o' the world than my lady here, and I ha' seen what I ha' seen — tho' to be sure if I had n't minded it we should all on us ha' had to go, bless the Saints, wi' bare backs, but the hacks 'ud ha' counte- nanced one anothei-, and belike it 'ud ha' been always summer, and anyhow I am as well - shaped as my lady here, and I ha' seen what I ha' seen, and what's the good of my talking to myself, for here comes my lady {Enter Rosamund), and, my lady, tho' I sliould n't speak one word, I wish you joy o' the King's brother. Tio^amund. What is it you mean ? Margery, I mean your goodman, your husband, my lady, for I saw your ladysliip a-parting wi' him even now i' the cop])ice, when I was agetting o' bluebells for your ladyship's nose to smell on — and I ha' seen the King once at Oxford, and he 's 3S like the King as finger-nail to finger- nail, and I thought at first it was the King, only you know the King 's married, for King Louis — Rosamund. Married ! Margery. Y ears and years, my lady, for her husband, Iving Louis — Rosai nind. Hush ! Margery. — And I thought if it were the King's brother he had a better bride than the King, for the people do say that his is bad beyond all reckoning, and — Rosaiinnid. The people lie. Marfiery. Very like, my lady, but most on 'em know an honest woman and a lady when they see her, and besides they say, siie makes songs, and that's against her, for I never knew an honest woman that could make songs, tho' to be sure our mother'ill sing me old songs by the hour, hut then, God help her, she had 'em from her mother, and her mother from her mother back and back for ever so long, but none on 'em ever made songs, and they were all honest. Rosamund. Go, you shall tell me of her some other time. Margery. There 's none so much to tell on her, my lady, only she kept the seventh commandment better than some I know on, or I could n't look your ladyship i' the face, and siic brew'd the best ale in all (ilo'ster, that is to say in her time when she had the Oown. Rosamund. The crown! who? Margery. Mother. Rosamund. I mean her whom you call — fancy — my husband's brother's wife. Margery. Oh, Queen Eleanor. Yes, my lady ; and tho' I be sworn not to speak a word, I can tell you all about her, if — Rosamund. No word now. I am faint and sleepy. Leave me. Nay — go. What! will you anger me ? [Exit Margery. He charged me not to question anj' of those About me. Have I ? no ! she question'dl n;e. Did she not slander him ? Should she stay here ? May she not tempt me, being at my side, To question her'i Nay, can I send her hence Without his kingly leave ! I am in the dark.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20452597_0770.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
