Page:Elfrida, a Dramatic Poem - Mason (1752).djvu/32

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Claims just returns of pity: for whose lotDemands it more than theirs, whom fate forbidsTo taste the joys of courteous charity;To wipe the trickling tears, which dew the cheekOf palsied age; to smooth it's furrow'd brow,And pay its grey hairs each due reverence?Yet such delight we are forbid to taste;For 'tis our lord's command, that not a stranger,However high or lowly his degree,Have entrance at these gates.
ORGAR.Who may this tyrant—
CHORUS.Alas, no tyrant he; the more our wonderAt this harsh mandate: Tenderness and PityHave made his breast their home. He is a manMore apt thro' inborn gentleness to err,In giving mercy's tide too free a course,Than with a thrifty and illiberal handTo circumscribe its channel. This his praiseYou'll hear the general theme in Edgar's court:For Edgar ranks him first in his high favor;Loads him with honors, which the Earl receives,As does the golden censer frankincense,Only to spread a sacred gale of blessingsThro' all the realm.

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