Xxiii

Task fancy yet again! Suppose you cast this clog Of flesh away (that weeps, upbraids, withstands my arm) And pass to join your peers, paragon charm with charm, As I shall show you may,--prove best of beauty there! Yourself confront yourself! This, help me to declare That yonder-you, who stand beside these, braving each And blinking none, beat her who lured to Troy-town beach The purple prows of Greece,--nay, beat Fifine; whose face, Mark how I will inflame, when seigneur-like I place I' the tambourine, to spot the strained and piteous blank Of pleading parchment, see, no less than a whole franc!