Burlesques William Makepeace Thackeray

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I mark that cursed monster black
Still sits behind his honor's back,
Tight squeezing of his heart alway.
Like two black Templars sit they there,
Beside one crupper, Knight and Care.
"No knight am I with pennoned spear,
To prance upon a bold destrere:
I will not have black Care prevail
Upon my long-eared charger's tail,
For lo, I am a witless fool,
And laugh at Grief and ride a mule."
And his bells rattled as he kicked his mule's sides.
"Silence, fool!" said Sir Wilfrid of Ivanhoe, in a voice both majestic and wrathful. "If thou
knowest not care and grief, it is because thou knowest not love, whereof they are the
companions. Who can love without an anxious heart? How shall there be joy at meeting,
without tears at parting?" ("I did not see that his honor or my lady shed many anon,"
thought Wamba the Fool; but he was only a zany, and his mind was not right.) "I would not
exchange my very sorrows for thine indifference," the knight continued. "Where there is a
sun, there must be a shadow. If the shadow offend me, shall I put out my eyes and live in
the dark? No! I am content with my fate, even such as it is. The Care of which thou
speakest, hard though it may vex him, never yet rode down an honest man. I can bear him
on my shoulders, and make my way through the world's press in spite of him; for my arm is
strong, and my sword is keen, and my shield has no stain on it; and my heart, though it is
sad, knows no guile." And here, taking a locket out of his waistcoat (which was made of
chain-mail), the knight kissed the token, put it back under the waistcoat again, heaved a
profound sigh, and stuck spurs into his horse.
As for Wamba, he was munching a black pudding whilst Sir Wilfrid was making the above
speech, (which implied some secret grief on the knight's part, that must have been perfectly
unintelligible to the fool,) and so did not listen to a single word of Ivanhoe's pompous
remarks. They travelled on by slow stages through the whole kingdom, until they came to
Dover, whence they took shipping for Calais. And in this little voyage, being exceedingly
sea-sick, and besides elated at the thought of meeting his sovereign, the good knight cast
away that profound melancholy which had accompanied him during the whole of his land
journey.
CHAPTER II.