r face looked down on me
With a look that placed a crown on me,
And she felt in her bosom,--mark, her bosom-- {770}
And, as a flower-tree drops its blossom,
Dropped me. . .ah! had it been a purse
Of silver, my friend, or gold that's worse,
Why, you see, as soon as I found myself
So understood,--that a true heart so may gain
Such a reward,--I should have gone home again,
Kissed Jacynth, and soberly drowned myself!
It was a little plait of hair
Such as friends in a convent make
To wear, each for the other's sake,-- {780}
This, see, which at my breast I wear,
Ever did (rather to Jacynth's grudgment),
And ever shall, till the Day of Judgment.
And then,--and then,--to cut short,--this is idle,
These are feelings it is not good to foster,--
I pushed the gate wide, she shook the bridle,
And the palfrey bounded,--and so we lost her.

--
501. you: ethical dative; there are several examples in the poem,
and of "me"; see especially v. 876.

586. impinge: to strike or fall upon or against; in the following
passage used ethically:--

"For I find this black mark impinge the man, That he believes in just
the vile of life."--The Ring and the Book: The Pope, v. 511.

567-689. "When higher laws draw the spirit out of itself into the life
of others; when grief has waked in it, not a self-centred despair, but a
divine sympathy; when it looks from the narrow limits of its own
suffering to the largeness of the world and the sorrows it can lighten,
we can dimly apprehend that it has taken flight and has found its
freedom in a region whither earth-bound spirits cannot follow it.
Surely the Gypsy's message was this--if the Duchess would leave her
own troubles and throw herself into the life of others, she would be
free. None can give true sympathy but those who have suffered and learnt
to love, therefore she must be proved,--`Fit when my people ope their
breast', etc. (vv. 592-601). Passing from the bondage she has endured
she will still have trials, but the old pain will have no power to touch
her. She has learnt all it can teach, and the world will be richer for
it. The Gypsy Queen will not foretell what her future life may be; the
true powers of self-less love are not yet gauged, and the power of the
union of those that truly love has never been tried. `If any two
creatures grew into one', etc. (vv. 626-631).