The Poetical Works of Thomas Aird

Front matter

THE POETICAL WORKS 7ii THOMAS AIRD. PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM BLACKAVOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. MDCCCXLVIII. CONTENTS. PAGE. THE TRAGEDY OF WOLD, ----- 1 THE DEVIL'S DREAM, ----- 30 THE CHRISTIAN BRIDE, - - - - - 96 BYRON, --_.--. 117 BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST, - - - • - 121 TALES OF THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM- TALE I.— HERODION AND AZALA, - - - 124 TALE II.— OTHURIEL, - - - - 131 A SUMMER DAY, - - - - - 150 THE CAPTIVE OF FEZ, - - - - 170 A WINTER DAY, - - - - - ' - 205 WASH THE FEET OF POOR OLD AGE, - - - 212 TO MONT BLANC, ..... 215 MY MOTHER'S GRAVE, - - - - - 216 NEBUCHADNEZZAR, .... - 218 A FATHER'S CURSE, - - - - - 239 A MOTHER'S BLESSING, - - - .- - - 245 THE CHURCH- YARD, - - - - - - 272 FRANK SYLVAN, ..... 297 THE DEMONIAC, - - - - - - : IN FIXE ACTS. PERSONS OF THE TRAGEDY. HENRY IV. MICHAEL ZEBRA.

LORD WOLD. OLDTHORN. LORD DUNLEY. MARTIN. DR ROWTH. BRETT. HASTINGS. MOUNTNORRIS. CLINTON. MORLEY. SIR LIONEL CHAYR. GORT. SIR HUGH DE VALMA. RED HODNDSLEY. PHILIP DE VALMA. THE DUCHESS OP WOLD. BLANCHE. LADY STAINES. NURSE. LADY MERVYN. JANET OLDTHORN. BLACK MARJORY. RACHEL. AFRA. A CAPTAIN OF BESIEGERS, AN OFFICER, A GENTLEMAN, A HERALD, TnE LOYAL HARPER, AN OLD SENESCHAL OF WOLD, THE KEEPER OF WOLD PRISON, THE KEEPER OF MERVYN FOREST AND HIS ASSISTANTS, TnE KEEPER'S DAUGHTER AND OTHER COUNTRY DAMSELS, A BAND OF YOUNG GIRLS, A REFORMING PETITIONER, A POET, A VILLAGE SCHOOL- MASTER, GUARDS, SOLDIERS, MESSENGERS, SERVANTS, &C. The Scenes are laid in the West of England near the Borders of Wales, and in the City of Bristol. Time — The Reign of Richard II., and the beginning of the Reign of Henry ACT I. SCENE I. — An open space in the skirts of a wood.

Wold Castle in the distance. Enter Afra, bearing a small black harp, Afra. dFear tfje tfjunSet, $ouse of ffliHoUi. JFear tfje lobe of enemies oltr. Jliaijeit »f)e-=f)an$s tf)r> truncfjeon fjottr, Œfjou sfjalt pevisfj, |tJouse of ilSSolH. So Merlin spake : He looked into the seed of Time, and spake. And from of old I, Afra, was ordained To wait on the woful birth, and cry aloud, — Judgment 's brought forth ! Hear it, 0 House of AVold ! Fear it, thou bloody and distressful House ! [Exit Afra, striking her harp vehemently- Enter the Duchess of AVold and Dr Rowth. Duch. Who's she that harps to us ? Dr Roiolh. Afra of the Cave. Duch. Ah ! the Welsh Prophetess ? She walks, they say, Round our house, cursing us ? Dr Rowth. Her wits are touched. Duch. I have no patience with those common crones That in mere envy, in their toothless age, Mutter against us.

Part I

i. Young Torthil sits below the woody steeps Of Apennine, beneath a spreading oak. His downcast eye a stem abstraction keeps ; Dawn not for him with purple stains has broke, Nor sunshine fiUed the world : the captive's yoke Is on Iris heart — bright things are not for him. The cloudy day, the high-winged tempest's shock Would more delight him, with unbounded limb Swift o'er far Morven's hifls, throughout her forests dim. ii. Who knows not Torthil from Ausonia's bound Of Alps Helvetian to her southern heel ? Now homeward musing o'er the vast profound, The fisher sees him by the ocean kneel • Now o'er the mountains with impetuous zeal He strikes the tusky monster with his spear ; The chamois leaps, the bird in airy wheel Screams to his piercing arrow • far and near Throughout that famous land he hunts the spotted deer. in.

In wilds ItaUan, on the ocean shores, Thus for was known that stranger golden-haired ; His foot unconscious of their city floors, Save when from time to time the roof he shared Of Tacitus, his faithful friend declared. Disdainful then of wonder as he trode, With dauntless eye Rome's boldest brows he dared ; Admiring smUes her stately daughters shewed, As through the imperial streets the grand Barbarian strode. rv. There sate young Torthil : brooding as he sate, His arms were folded o'er his bosom high ; His vest a skin won from a leopard great That in the forest he had forced to die. Cast from him now his spear lay idly by. O'er fronting hills, that formed the vaUey's side, A yelling bird upraised at length his eye ; His glance went through the crystalline so wide, TiU mingling with the sun the eagle he descried. v. His shortened eye came down the opposing steep, Rock-roughened there, with many a waterfall, Here thickets shy, and trailing flowers that weep In sunless hoUows where the rills down brawl ■ The goat's bold head was looking over aU.

A flowing wood the middle mountain braced, Descending fast to fringe with thin trees taU A lap of grass ; a nearer brook in haste Its twirling sflver spun, and the green vaUey traced. VI. But ha ! a maid on yonder bank he sees Read on a scroll, as up and down she strays, Now forth among the sun-Ulumined trees, Now back withdrawn into the twflight maze. A graceful robe her moulded form betrays ; In wavy curls her dark hair backwards thrown A fiUet binds • the flashing lustre plays, As aye she turns, upon a jewel-stone On her consummate brow set Uke a star alone. VLT. Ne'er Grecian poet in his dreamy moods Beheld a nymph, or visioned one more sweet, Near walking on the checkered floors of woods, Or far Ulapsing through their green retreat, Chasing the shadows with her glimpsing feet : So fair that maid.

But hark ! adown the vale A tumult comes, the wild boar gaUops fleet, N Fell dogs are hanging on his foamy trail, A single huntress drives the tempest through the dale. VIII, Her brows tiara'd, her high-managed steed, Her boar-spear grasped with Amazonian hand, Bespeak a Queen : she cheers the stormy speed : No fears for her ! aloft she waves her brand, Like one accustomed kingdoms to command. On sweeps the chase, her briUiant head comes on. But lo ! that damsel of the grove her stand Before her takes, down on her knee is gone : " Ah ! Lady, stay," she prays, " pursue not thus alone," is. " Degenerate thing !" the proud Zenobia cried, Scorn in her eye, hate on her brow severe ; She launched her courser past the virgin's side, And onward bounding held her leveUed spear. Uprose the damsel in her trembling fear To see the Queen on danger rush amain ; But TorthU marks, and hastes to bid her cheer : Advancing near before her, back again He starts, with passionate gaze he kneels upon the plain x. " Lady," he said, " forgive me if I 've been Too bold in this ; but in my own far land Thee in the visions of the night I 've seen, That brow inviolate, those eyes so bland !

I joy to rise, to run at thy command : Strong is my arm and lance ; shaU I pursue, O'ertake, and shield the lady ? Nor my hand ShaU smite the boar to rob her of her due ; That honour be her own, if I no danger view. XI. " Virgin, sweet paramount creature ! bid me go." Upsprings his bright head in the blowing wind ; In golden beauty o'er his shoulders flow His locks of youth, all free and unconfined, As fleet he goes, nor soon shall be behind The echoing storm that leaves the hoUow ground. But, lo ! he pauses with his ear inclined : And hark ! from round the valley's hiUy bound, The startled maiden lists the hunt's returning sound. XII, Back Torthil speeds. But she the tumult hears Behind s she turns ; the crashing shrubs are tossed, That skirt the near loin of the hiU ; appears The boar, the boar with churny foam embossed !

Soaked with death-sweats the grass he darkly crossed • Two hounds close track him with devouring bay ; No huntress comes ; the embodied pack have lost Their quarry prime, wide puzzling on their way, Or traversed by the lure of secondary prey. xiri. The affrighted girl has fled across the brook, Behind she hears the panting brute advance, Nearer, and nearer stiU • she turns to look — O ! terror ! joy ! her eye's bewildered trance With death, with safety is fiUed up at once : The monster's sidelong, half upturning head Is gnarled to strike, his bared tusks backward glance To gather fury for his onset dread, To unseam her lovely limb — bold Tortbil's thrust has sped; xiv. But ah ! he stumbles from his forceful blow ; The beast transfixed, disdaining yet to fly, Has bowed his leveUed head, and, ploughing low As if to pass his rising enemy, With tearing side-stroke rips his spouting thigh • Then forward staggers, darkly crushed to faU ; But bites his fiery wound ere he wiU die, Snaps with his teeth that shaft of deadly gaU, And grinds with foam and blood the sputtered sphnters smaU xv.

Turned to the rescued maid, along the brow Of Torthil lightens a heroic smfle ; TiU, o'er his drained benumbed Umb forced to bow, To earth succumbs he, gazing yet the whfle On her whose presence can his pains beguUe. But she for him her silken vesture tears, Binds his stanched wound with pity's gentlest wUe ; Cold sprinklings then from out the stream she bears, Refreshes his sick face, his fainting strength repairs. XVI. " And spare," he said, upturned to her, " those tears, My love, first brought to me in dreams of yore ! I know thee weU ; not ages of long years Could more instruct me, make me love thee more. My heart's last blood I 'd give thee o'er and o'er ! I would but have thee know me should I die ; Afar I come from Caledonia's shore, Torthil my name, a chieftain there was I, A captive next; — nay, sent thy safety thus to buy.

XVII. " I am a savage ; but in thy sweet sight To live, would make me gentle soon, and wise. Would thou couldst love me ! " With impassioned might He strove, nor vainly, from the ground to rise. The light was thickened in his heavy eyes ; He fell, yet falling kissed her dear young feet. Alone the fainting Caledonian Ues, The maid in haste has sought the wood's retreat ; But soon she reappears with new assistance meet. XVIII. A reverend father and a female old Come to her guidance, and the youth upraise ; His drooping head the virgin's hands uphold : Borne o'er the rivulet, through the woodland maze, Where many a path the uncertain foot betrays, A cave withdrawn into the mountain's side, Received them from the forest's puzzling ways. There Father Hippo healing bands supplied ; And there, till he wax weU, young Torthil shaU abide, xrx.

But oft Roscrana came, that princess good, Niece of Zenobia, Tadmor's famous Queen, Who, since AureUan had her throne subdued, With honour placed in Italy had been. A huntress, she her summer dwelling green Chose near the central mountains of the land. Fair daughters round her graced the sylvan scene ; But she, and they, a haughty sister band, Roscrana's meekness scorned, and ruled her with high hand. xx. Yet more divided from her kindred blood, Roscrana's heart confessed our holy faith ; Nursed by a Christian Jewess, and imbued With early love for Him of Nazareth, She to His cross wiU cling unto the death. The sovereign knowledge fain would she declare To her proud kin, but stUl they shunned her path • Then sought she solace in the woods, and there She found the cave proscribed of that old Christian pair.

XXI. They o'er the Syrian orphan, as their child, Rejoiced, that dear faith mutually confessed. More than a daughter, she their fears beguiled, She brought them food, she watched their aged rest, Fair garments wrought by her their bodies dressed. For this, the scrolls of the Eternal Word Given by those saints, she hid beneath her vest, TiU to the night, to shady walks restored, She drew them forth and read of her incarnate Lord. XXII. Within the cavern of those Christians laid, With plants of healing gathered from the hiU, Was Torthfl cured by that good Eastern maid, O ! more to love her for her gentle skiU. And soon he blessed those days of wounded ill, For aye young pity trembles into love ; Lord of her heart is he and virgin wiU. And aye to him of Jesus from above She reads, or in the cave, or walking through the grove. xxm.

Upsprings the sun, now flit the thin bright wings Of twinkling birds upon the morning trees ; Torthil abroad longs for the hour that brings His young affianced o'er the grassy leas. Beyond the vale Zenobia's home he sees — 'Tis she ! he hastes his virgin to receive, Her quick robe flutters on the early breeze • This time at least O ! bim she wiU not leave, TiU come 'twixt day and night soft reconciling eve. xxrv. Sequestered they in love's unworldly dream, In haunts of beauty lose the lapsing hours ; The lake's unrippled glass, the shining stream AUure their footsteps through the blooming flowers ■ They hear the songs of birds within their bowers ; High rocks afar they see, and vales between. Then glance the clear drops of the slanting showers ; The illumined tops of ancient woods are seen, AVith weeping sunshine fused, and golden rainbows green.

XXV. Together stood they on the taU hills : there They saw the great sea lying in the West, Like to a floor of fine-compacted air • The white ships o'er the element at rest, Though moving, seemed of motion unpossessed. Long homeward looking dimmed was Torthil's eye, Away he turned, Roscrana's hand he pressed, view cast He led his Eastern princess from on high, Nor checked his silent haste until he heard her sigh. XXVI. The stock-dove's voice, sweet intermittent bird, That aye the shadow of the hawk's wing fears, Along the twilight valleys now is heard, Whose murmur love to lovers stfll endears. The Moon, mild empress of the night, appears ; Beauty and Peace lead on the silver queen ; The forests, brightening silently, she clears ; She walks the mountains ; o'er the polished sheen Of dimphng rivers far her sliding feet are seen.

XXVII. To the young captive his Roscrana's eyes, Of marveUous beauty, harmonize the whole, Subduing still, as still to him they rise, The fainter longings of his home-sick soul. How swift away the hour of evening stole ! Would morn were come their meeting to renew ! By bordering river, and by tufted knoU, Homeward he led her through the drops of dew, TiU shone through gUmmering trees Zenobia's waUs in XXVIII. In the sweet sunlight of the summer-tide, Those lovers wander by a central lake Embosomed high ; two cardinal rivers glide Or to or from it, not a slope to break The slippery level of each molten snake : They, each along his mountainous ravine, With hanging banks a lengthened vista make ; Suffused with purple haze, their wood -tops green Bowed to the watery lapse, therein are softly seen.

XXIX. Round silvan cove and unUlumined nook, Missing the shadow of the drinking deer, Its rim of darkened glass the curved lake took ; Where lies its nearer crystal swept and clear, Thereon the sapphire and the gold appear Of day's last look, the loveUest as the last. There glossy fowls swim in the glory ; here The deepening shadows of the mountains vast, That stand up by the sun, through the blent wave are XXX. With saddening gaze upon the lord of day, " So sinks," said Torthil, " the immortal flame ' I too go down : Back takes he on his wav o * His retrospect ; if I should do the same, Pride overthrown, youth crushed, the baffled aim, Defeat, and exUe from my native shore, Are my memorials — felt by me, for shame Was never in my father's house ; yet sore Though be my pangs for these, my country plagues me more, XXXI, " For me her youth into the battle's waste She poured, she perished at my sole command.

Was this not much ? Am I not aU disgraced ? The exulting rivers of my native land, These are not they — a captive here I stand. Why feU I not ? Yea farther hear my shame : — Lady, I chose to stoop beneath their band That binds me by the honour of my name, Since slain not here in Rome, my freedom ne'er to claim, XXXII. 7- Ne'er to attempt return. O ! I might say, My very wish that shame to uncreate Forbade my death, throughout the slavish day Of circumstances bade me tamely wait Some better morn of fortune or of fate. What then ? Unbounded blame is still my due For you betrothed to my forlorn estate. 'Tis time to question thus myself for you, — What hope contrive, sweet maid, what plan shaU I pursue ? XXXIII. " This I might do— Oh ! I no more can live For thee to see me in my slavery ! — Yes I will do it — I will go — wfll give My Use again from vows to be set free ; They gaU me so !

His slave I wiU not be ; 1 11 go, 1 11 brave him on his Roman throne. Ha ! first 1 11 promise to mine enemy Long years of service in his battles done ; For thee with power fulfilled, he'U let me then be gone. XXXIV. " Then home with me to Morven shalt thou go, And be a daughter to my mother there. There forth I 'U lead thee by the hand, and shew The green translucent brine, when mermaids rare Sing on the rocks and comb their sUppery hair ; The bUss of morn, clear wells, and forests green ; The pure suffusion of the evening air, When dipped in delicate Ughts far hiUs are seen. To thee high bards shall chant each dawn, each solemn e'en, XXXV. " Ha ! idle visions these ! Why am I here ? Sweet Lady, come with me unto our cave ; Then home I 'U guide thee. Ere next noon appear, Aurelian hears me ; wise, and just, and brave, He 11 grant the death or freedom that I crave. 0 ! not in vain last night in dreams did come To me my mother, pale as from the grave ; Yet smiled the vested image from her home O'er the wan waters far, over the traveUed foam."

XXXVI. Within the cave they wait the evening star. But came Zenobia, beautifuUy keen ; Behind her thronging entered men of war ; A Jewish dwarf, mis-shapen, ugly, lean, Who long her servant in the East had been, Led on the party : he, of Christ the foe, Had learned Roscrana's faith, had brought his Queen Her doubtful haunt, her friends proscribed to know. O'erpowered now must they aU before AureUan go. XXXVII. Yea, worse than vain was TorthU's manly haste His name to teU, his passion to declare ; Vain priestly Hippo's act, before them placed, To wed Roscrana to her TorthU there. Joy then be with them, a divided pair ! The Imperial lady with a deadly smile Swore (for the Cæsar ne'er denies her prayer) A dungeon's chains shall Torthil have the whUe, Roscrana banished be to some far foreign isle.

XXXVIII. Aurelian ratified the stern decree ; But yielded this to TorthU young and brave, — That his dear wife, since banished she must be, Should go to Morven o'er the western wave, To soothe his mother drooping to the grave • A widow she, and he far from her ta'en, Her only son, to be a captive slave. But Hippo and his wife their freedom gain, To enhance Zenobia's wrath against that youthful twain.

Part II

i. In Morven's woody land, Roscrana kissed Her TorthU's mother at her tale amazed ; Then lowly bowed the virgin to be blessed : — " My far-come daughter !" Cathla said, and raised, And stiU with wonder on the lady gazed, " If thou indeed art TorthU's chosen bride ; Yea, well that forehead's beauty undebased Beseems the scion of a prince's side : Worthy art thou to be my Tortbil's spouse of pride. II. " Thou from the dowried kingdoms of the East, To lands of poor but of heroic men Art come ; yet court nor Oriental feast ShaU make thy sweet soul scorn our humblest den. But when great wars befaU, my daughter then ShaU bless the safety that wUd Morven yields ; Then shall her sons, from mountain and from glen, Hang round about thee with their sounding shields : They for young TorthU's bride would fight a hundred fields. in.

Sweetly repeated was Roscrana's tale, As she by Cathla in her chamber sate, Of Torthil's exfle, of his wounded aU, And how they loved, and their divided fate. Zenobia's harshness, hghtly deUcate She touched ; her hopes she hastened to unfold Of Tortbil's rescue from his shackled state ; Her wanderings then in Britain's isle she told, Her second mother thus by the dear hand to hold. rv. Forth came the day-spring : forth with Cathla walked In sleepless love Roscrana from her door. Before the gate a grizzly giant stalked, A rough dog gamboUed on the grassy floor. Near stepped the former, this his play gave o'er. " Behold thy keepers," Cathla said, and snriled : " Here Rumal, TorthU's hound, feared of the boar ; There sUent Ere, who knows each mountain wUd : Where'er incUned to roam, they 11 guard my Syrian child. y. " One daughter Ere, young Oina-Morul, had, The white-armed gladdener of his heart and eyes ; P THE CHRISTIAN BRIDE.

She crossed a bridging tree, the torrent mad Devoured her beauty, stumbling from surprise. My TorthU sees her, down the bank he flies, He follows shooting through the giant wave, Green boiling gulf and dull black pool he tries ; Ah ! to his sight a filmy whiteness gave The virgin, only won to a more honoured grave. Ti. " Wild was the sorrow of the savage Ere, Leapt in his eye the fiercest fights of pain, Grief bore him to the deserts far and dark, To winds he howled, to the tempestuous main ; Nor night, nor sleep could quench his eye or brain , His path was by the eagle's dizzy nest ; Danger his solace, scornful of the plain, On hills adust, or on the hoarded chest Of winter's mountain snows he flung his naked breast, TO. " Back to that flood, each sucking whirl he tried, That took from him his child so young and fair.

We saw him, as he buffeted the tide, Wrung with the assurance, had he but been there. No gulf had drawn her from a father's care. Then like a lifeless thing did he aUow The waves to drift him on the margin bare, Where lay his Oina-Morul's marble brow ; He kissed the silver sands — his spirit has her now ! vm. " He loved my boy, he fought for him, he fell ; Healed by my care, his fife from death was won To be my dragon and to guard me well : For you how gladly shall the same be done ! Far to the peaks of mountains does he run, O'er lake below, o'er river, wood, and plain, He casts his eagle eye to ken my son * He hies to the wild margin of the main, To look for the white ships — for Torthil back again." IX. On mountain-tops when morning lights appear, When sUent dewdrops through the eve distil, Or by the rising moon, or Hesper clear, Or when the gusts of gloomier twilight fill Old creaking thorn upon the stony hill, Ere, brave and modest, was Roscrana's guide, The shaggy Rumal was beside him still ; With them the virgin every fear defied, As over Morven's land she loved to wander wide. x. The great north winds that on the pinewoods blow, And heave the ocean's elemental floor, Toss her dark locks that through them boldly go, Sublime her spirit with their stormy roar.

Heroic land ! she loved thee more and more, Fair, but still roughening to her young surprise ; On heaths she met, and on the awful shore, Majestic men who looked unto the skies, For never slavery bowed their unpoUuted eyes. XI. And Cathla told her of her fathers' land, The deeds of Fingal, his Ulustrious race, The songs of Ossian, the bards' priestly band, The ghosts of heroes, and their dwelling-place : They oft, when laid within the desert's space Their sons have slept beneath the moon's wan beams By the grey stone benumbed, before them trace Events to come, vouchsafing them in dreams Prefiguring gestures stern, soft monitory gleams. XII. But sad are they that want the funeral-song ; Their spirits mount not to the airy haU Of eddying winds, for ever rolled along By weedy lakes within their misty paU.

Of signs she told, of showers of blood that faU To gifted eyes, the Druid's shuddering grove, The twangs of death that in the harp-strings caUj The attendant Genu on the maids they love ; And of the Culdees told in many a rocky cove. XIII. And much she loved to hear Roscrana tell Of aU the wonders of the early East. But who are they that in those caverns dweU ? Each hoary Culdee is a Christian priest. Roscrana knew them ; nor the princess ceased TiU, more than eloquent, tiU, saintly bold, Of Christ, and of her love for Him increased In this her exUe — nay, her home — she told ; Till Cathla wept glad tears, won to The Living Fold. xrv. " Awake, my Christian child ! " — by this sweet narn» Cathla now named her, as for TorthU's sake THE CHRISTIAN BRIDE. She ever sleepless, when the morning came, Longed for Roscrana — " My true daughter, wake !

Forth let us go and walk by bower and brake. Alas ! in tears those eyes of beauty swim ; Thee far from me thy nightly visions take, Far to thy buried mother, far to him Thy princely sire, who sleeps in Tadmor's aisles so dim xv. " Or when thy spirit, winged with ghostly dreams, FUes through the pale dominions of the night, Thou m'eet'st thy Torthil by the midnight gleams. Thou wak'st, and I alone am in thy sight. Oft wilt thou sigh when comes the morrow bright ; Long wUt thou look unto the East by day, (There were the kingdoms of thy young delight) Weeping to feel thyself too far away, Doomed with thy father's dust not even thy dust to lay. XVI. " Fain would I bid thee weep not, bid thee cheer, With pastimes please thee, with my love make glad ! Thou call'st me mother ; for that name so dear, Much would I do to let thee ne'er be sad !

For ought I not ? For I in thee have had O ! more than many sons and daughters : I From thee have learned the Almighty One who bade Be formed the lucid piUars of the sky, Him who has us redeemed, Him who must sanctify. XVII. " Beautiful AUen ! daughter unto me ! ShaU I not know thee in the end of days ? Christ send our TorthU home to us, that he May learn the truth, may learn the Eternal ways ! Then, if redeemed, shaU we not be thy praise, Immortal Creature ! who hast given us up To dweU with God, His glory to upraise ? Perish the Druid's fable ! the true cup Of life alone is theirs who with the Lamb shall sup." XVIII. And aye with Cathla forth that daughter went, Grief-silent Ere and Rumal still behind ; Their steps they to the blameless people bent, Dwelling upon the mountains unconfined, With peace the broken spirit to upbind, Want from the poor and sickness to repel.

So meek their TorthU's wife, so sweetly kind, Grey fathers bade their daughters thus excel, The mothers caUed her good, the virgins loved her well. xrx. Too much by Swarno loved, impure of heart; Her TorthU's foe, he tempted her with sighs ; But true her faith, and vain the chieftain's art, He with his friend in every enterprise, The red Gurthullin, did a plot devise : — Near grows a struggle with the Roman foe, (Succumb shaU Morven, or shall greater rise) The battle o'er, abroad while stragglers go, They H watch, they 'U bear her off, and none their guUt shaU know xx. Yea, chastely modest, boldly innocent, Ne'er has she hinted Swarno's love impure ; Hence ne'er her friends shah guess the way she went : — " But ha ! old dragon Ere must we secure ; Chained must he be, our scheme were else unsure : Thus be it done, — upon the battle-eve Him to our nearest fortalice we 11 lure ; Rumal his dog we 'U slay, and him we 'U leave Chained in our dungeon till the maid has ceased to grieve."