one extreme to another
Does my strange existence go:
Yesterday in highest honour,
And to-day so poor and low!
Still, if I am self-reliant,
Need I fear an alien foe?
But, ah me, how insufficient
Is my self-defence alone!--
O new God to whom I offer
Life and soul, whom I adore,
In Thy confidence I rest me.
Help me, Lord, I ask no more.

(Enter Escarpin.)

ESCARPIN.
Where I wonder can she be?
But I need not farther go,
Here she is:--At length, Daria,
My good lady, and soforth,
Now has come the happy moment,
When in open market sold,
All thy charms are for the buyer,
Who can spend a little gold;
And since happily love's tariff
Is not an excessive toll,
Here I am, and so, Daria,
Let these clasping arms enfold . . .

DARIA.
Do not Thou desert Thy handmaid
In this dreadful hour, O Lord!--

Cries of people within.

A VOICE (within).
Oh, the lion! oh, the lion!

ANOTHER VOICE (within).
Ho! take care of the lion, ho!

ESCARPIN.
Let the lion care himself,
I 'm engaged and cannot go.

A VOICE (within).
From the mountain wilds descending,
Through the crowded streets he goes.

ANOTHER VOICE (within).
Like the lightning's flash he flieth,
Like the thunder is his roar.

ESCARPIN.
Ah! all right, for I 'm in safety,
Thanks to this obliging door:
Lightning is a thing intended
For high towers and stately domes,
Never heard I of its falling
Upon little lowly homes:
So if lion be the lightning,
Somewhere else will fall the bolt:
Therefore once again, Daria,
Come, I say, embrace me. . . . .
(A lion enters, places himself before Daria, and seizes Escarpin.)

DARIA.
Oh!
Never in my life did I
See a nobler beast.

ESCARPIN.
Just so,
Nor a more affectionate one
Did I ever meet before,
Since he gives me the embraces
That I asked of thee and more:
O god Bacchus, whom I worship
So devoutly, thou, I know,
Workest powerfully on beasts.
Tell our friend to let me go.

DARIA.
Noble brute, defend my honour,
Be God's minister below.

ESCARPIN.
How he gnaws me! how he claws me!
How he smells! His breath, by Jove,
Is as bad as an emetic.
But you need n't eat me, though.
That would be a sorry blunder,
Like what happened long ago.
Would you like to hear the story?
By your growling you say no.
What! you 'll eat me then? You 'll find me
A tough morsel, skin and bone.
O Daria! I implore thee,
Save me from this monster's throat,
And I give to thee