tant par est douce.”

   This service it did for M. Bida, the painter, as he tells us when he translated Aucassin in 1870. In dark and darkening days,

    patriai tempore iniquo

   , we too have turned to

    Aucassin et Nicolete

   .

    {5}

   Where smooth the Southern waters run

   Through rustling leagues of poplars gray,

   Beneath a veiled soft Southern sun,

   We wandered out of Yesterday;

   Went Maying in that ancient May

   Whose fallen flowers are fragrant yet,

   And lingered by the fountain spray

   With Aucassin and Nicolete.

   The grassgrown paths are trod of none

   Where through the woods they went astray;

   The spider’s traceries are spun

   Across the darkling forest way;

   There come no Knights that ride to slay,

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