01

They should have walk'd there in their spright-But all this time how slept, or dream'd, Duda?

LXXIV.

And now commenced a strict investigation,
Which, as all spoke at once, and more than

once

Conjecturing, wondering, asking a narration,
Ake might puzzle either wit or dunce
To answer in a very clear oration.

Dudu had never pass'd for wanting sense,
But, being no orator, as Brutus is,'
Could not at first expound what was amiss.

LXXV.

At length she said that, in a slumber sound,

The matron, too, was wroth to leave her warm
Bed, for the dream she had been obliged to
hear,

And chafed at poor Dudù, who only sigh'd,
And said that she was sorry she had cried.
LXXX.

'I've heard of stories of a cock and bull;
But visions of an apple and a bee,

To take us from our natural rest, and pull

The whole Oda from their beds at half-past
three,

Would make us think the moon is at its full.
You surely are unwell, child! we must see,

She dream'd a dream of walking in a wood-To-morrow, what his Highness's physician A 'wood obscure, like that where Dante found | Will say to this hysteric of a vision. Himself in at the age when all grow good; Life's half-way house, where dames with virtue crown'd,

Run much less risk of lovers turning rude; And that this wood was full of pleasant fruits, And trees of goodly growth and spreading roots;

LXXXI.

'And poor Juanna, too, the child's first night
Within these walls, to be broke in upon
With such a clamour-I had thought it right
That the young stranger should not lie alone,
And, as the quietest of all, she might

With you, Dudù, a good night's rest have
known;

But now I must transfer her to the charge
Of Lolah-though her couch is not so large.'

LXXXII.

Lolah's eyes sparkled at the proposition;

But poor Dudù, with large drops in her own,
Resulting from the scolding or the vision,
Implored that present pardon might be shown
For this first fault, and that on no condition
(She added in a soft and piteous tone)
Juanna should be taken from her, and
Her future dreams should all be kept in hand.

LXXXIII.

She promised never more to have a dream,
At least to dream so loudly as just now.
She wonder'd at herself how she could scream-
'Twas foolish, nervous, as she must allow,
A fond hallucination, and a theme

For laughter-but she felt her spirits low,
And begg'd they would excuse her: she'd get

over

This weakness in a few hours, and recover.
LXXXIV.

And here Juanna kindly interposed,

And said she felt herself extremely well
Where she then was, as her sound sleep disclosed,
When all around rang like a tocsin bell.
She did not find herself the least disposed

To quit her gentle partner, and to dwell
Save that of dreaming once mal-à-propos.
Apart from one who had no sin to show,

LXXXV.

As thus Juanna spoke, Dudù turn'd round,
And hid her face within Juanna's breast;
Her neck alone was seen, but that was found
The colour of a budding rose's crest.