And lo! the fairy queens who rule our birth Drew nigh to speak the new-born baby's doom: With noiseless step, which left no trace on earth, From gloom they came, and vanished into gloom. Not deigning on the boy a glance to cast Swept careless by the gorgeous Queen of Gain; More scornful still, the Queen of Fashion passed, With mincing gait and sneer of cold disdain. The Queen of Power tossed high her jewelled head, And o'er her shoulder threw a wrathful frown; The Queen of Pleasure on the pillow shed Scarce one stray rose-leaf from her fragrant crown. Still Fay in long procession followed Fay; And still the little couch remained unblest: But, when those wayward sprites had passed away, Came One, the last, the mightiest, and the best. Oh glorious lady, with the eyes of light And laurels clustering round thy lofty brow, Who by the cradle's side didst watch that night, Warbling a sweet, strange music, who wast thou? "Yes, darling; let them go;" so ran the strain: "Yes; let them go, gain, fashion, pleasure, power, And all the busy elves to whose domain Belongs the nether sphere, the fleeting hour. "Without one envious sigh, one anxious scheme, The nether sphere, the fleeting hour resign. Mine is the world of thought, the world of dream, Mine all the past, and all the future mine. "Fortune, that lays in sport the mighty low, Age, that to penance turns the joys of youth, Shall leave untouched the gifts which I bestow, The sense of beauty and the thirst of truth. "Of the fair brotherhood who share my grace, I, from thy natal day, pronounce thee free; And, if for some I keep a nobler place, I keep for none a happier than for thee. "There are who, while to vulgar eyes they seem Of all my bounties largely to partake, Of me as of some rival's handmaid deem And court me but for gain's, power's, fashion's sake. "To such, though deep their lore, though wide their fame, Shall my great mysteries be all unknown: But thou, through good and evil, praise and blame, Wilt not thou love me for myself alone? "Yes; thou wilt love me with exceeding love; And I will tenfold all that love repay, Still smiling, though the tender may reprove, Still faithful, though the trusted may betray. "For aye mine emblem was, and aye shall be, The ever-during plant whose bough I wear, Brightest and greenest then, when every tree That blossoms in the light of Time is bare. "In the dark hour of shame, I deigned to stand Before the frowning peers at Bacon's side: On a far shore I smoothed with tender hand, Through months of pain, the sleepless bed of Hyde: