Nor must the exalted butler be forgot, Nor he whose dream presaged his hanging lot. And did not Crœsus the same death foresee, Raised in his vision on a lofty tree? The wife of Hector, in his utmost pride, Dreamt of his death the night before he died:[182] Well was he warned from battle to refrain, } But men to death decreed are warned in vain; } He dared the dream, and by his fatal foe was slain. } Much more I know, which I forbear to speak, For see the ruddy day begins to break: Let this suffice, that plainly I foresee My dream was bad, and bodes adversity; But neither pills nor laxatives I like, They only serve to make a well-man sick; Of these his gain the sharp physician makes, And often gives a purge, but seldom takes; They not correct, but poison all the blood, And ne'er did any but the doctors good. Their tribe, trade, trinkets, I defy them all, With every work of 'pothecary's hall. These melancholy matters I forbear; But let me tell thee, Partlet mine, and swear, That when I view the beauties of thy face, I fear not death, nor dangers, nor disgrace; So may my soul have bliss, as when I spy The scarlet red about thy partridge eye, While thou art constant to thy own true knight, } While thou art mine, and I am thy delight, } All sorrows at thy presence take their flight. } For true it is, as _in principio,[183] Mulier est hominis confusio_.[184] Madam, the meaning of this Latin is, That woman is to man his sovereign bliss. For when by night I feel your tender side, Though for the narrow perch I cannot ride, Yet I have such a solace in my mind, That all my boding cares are cast behind, And even already I forget my dream.-- He said, and downward flew from off the beam, For day light now began apace to spring, The thrush to whistle, and the lark to sing. Then crowing, clapped his wings, the appointed call, To chuck his wives together in the hall. By this the widow had unbarred the door, And Chanticleer went strutting out before, With royal courage, and with heart so light, As shewed he scorned the visions of the night. Now roaming in the yard, he spurned the ground, And gave to Partlet the first grain he found. Then often feathered her with wanton play, And trod her twenty times ere prime of day; And took by turns and gave so much delight, Her sisters pined with envy at the sight. He chucked again, when other corns he found, And scarcely deigned to set a foot to ground; But swaggered like a lord about his hall, And his seven wives came running at his call. 'Twas now the month in which the world began, (If March beheld the first created man;) And since the vernal equinox, the sun In Aries twelve degrees, or more, had run; When casting up his eyes against the light, Both month, and day, and hour, he measured right, And told more truly than the Ephemeris;