"But grant my wishes,--let us now Descend from this ethereal height; Then take thy way, adventurous Skiff, More daring far than Hippogriff, And be thy own delight! 155 "To the stone-table in my garden, Loved haunt of many a summer hour, [E] The Squire is come: his daughter Bess Beside him in the cool recess Sits blooming like a flower. 160 "With these are many more convened; They know not I have been so far;-- I see them there, in number nine, Beneath the spreading Weymouth-pine! I see them--there they are! 165 "There sits the Vicar and his Dame; And there my good friend, Stephen Otter; And, ere the light of evening fail, To them I must relate the Tale Of Peter Bell the Potter." 170 Off flew the Boat--away she flees, Spurning her freight with indignation! [16] "And I, as well as I was able, On two poor legs, toward my stone-table Limped on with sore vexation. [17] 175 "O, here he is!" cried little Bess-- She saw me at the garden-door; "We've waited anxiously and long," They cried, and all around me throng, Full nine of them or more! 180 "Reproach me not--your fears be still-- Be thankful we again have met;-- Resume, my Friends! within the shade Your seats, and quickly [18] shall be paid The well-remembered debt." 185 I spake with faltering voice, like one Not wholly rescued from the pale Of a wild dream, or worse illusion; But, straight, to cover my confusion, Began the promised Tale. [19] 190 PART FIRST All by the moonlight river side Groaned the poor Beast--alas! in vain; The staff was raised to loftier height, And the blows fell with heavier weight As Peter struck--and struck again. [20] 195 [21] "Hold!" cried the Squire, "against the rules Of common sense you're surely sinning; This leap is for us all too bold; [22] Who Peter was, let that be told, And start from the beginning." 200 --"A Potter, [F] Sir, he was by trade," Said I, becoming quite collected; "And wheresoever he appeared, Full twenty times was Peter feared For once that Peter was respected. 205 "He two-and-thirty years or more, Had been a wild and woodland rover; Had heard the Atlantic surges roar On farthest Cornwall's rocky shore, And trod the cliffs of Dover. 210 "And he had seen Caernarvon's towers, And well he knew the spire of Sarum; And he had been where Lincoln bell Flings o'er the fen that ponderous knell-- A far-renowned alarum. [23] 215