hrase that now with echoes soft aunted her lonely cell; saw th' hereditary bowers, he heard th' ancestral stream; - Kremlin and its haughty towers orgotten like a dream!
E ever-changing Moon had traced welve times her monthly round, en through the unfrequented Waste Was heard a startling sound; hout thrice sent from one who chased t speed a wounded deer,
inding through branches interlaced, and where the wood was clear.
e fainting creature took the marsh, nd toward the Island fled,
ile plovers scream'd with tumult harsh bove his antler'd head:
s, Ina saw; and, pale with fear, hrunk to her citadel;
e desperate deer rush'd on, and near he tangled covert fell.
ross the marsh, the game in view,
he Hunter follow'd fast,
paused, till o'er the stag he blew
- death-proclaiming blast;
en, resting on her upright mind,
ame forth the Maid: "In me
hold," she said, "a stricken Hind
ursued by destiny!
om your deportment, Sir, I deem
"hat you have worn a sword,
d will not hold in light esteem
suffering woman's word:
ere is my covert, there perchance
might have lain conceal'd,
fortunes hid, my countenance
Hot even to you reveal'd.
ars might be shed, and I might pray, Crouching and terrified,
at what has been unveil❜d to-day,
You would in mystery hide;
t I will not defile with dust
The knee that bends to adore
e God in Heaven: attend, be just;
This ask I, and no more.
peak not of the Winter's cold,
for Summer's heat exchanged
While I have lodged in this rough hold,
From social life estranged;
Nor yet of trouble and alarms:
High Heaven is my defence;
And every season has soft arms
For injured Innocence.
From Moscow to the Wilderness
It was my choice to come,
Lest virtue should be harbourless,
And honour want a home;
And happy were I, if the Czar
Retain his lawless will,
To end life here like this poor deer,
Or a lamb on a green hill."
"Are you the Maid," the Stranger cried,
"From Gallic parents sprung,
Whose vanishing was rumour'd wide,
Sad theme for every tongue?
Who foil'd an Emperor's eager quest?
You, Lady, forced to wear
These rude habiliments, and rest
Your head in this dark lair!"
But wonder, pity, soon were quell'd;
And in her face and mien
The soul's pure brightness he beheld
Without a veil between :
He loved, he hoped, -a holy flame
Kindled 'mid rapturous tears;
The passion of a moment came
As on the wings of years.
"Such bounty is no gift of chance,"
Exclaim'd he; "righteous Heaven,
Preparing your deliverance,
To me the charge hath given.
The Czar full oft in words and deeds
Is stormy and self-will'd;
But, when the Lady Catherine 7 pleads,
His violence is still'd.
And the fifth morning gave him sight
Of Moscow's glittering spires.
He sued:-heart-smitten by the wrong,
To the lorn Fugitive
The Emperor sent a pledge as strong
As sovereign power could give.
O more than mighty change! If e'er
Amazement rose to pain,
And joy's excess produced a fear
Of something void and vain;
But, seeing no relief, at last
He ventured to reply.
"Ah!" said the Briar, "blame me not;
Why should we dwell in strife?
We who in this sequester'd spot
Once lived a happy life!
You stirr'd me on my rocky bed,-
What pleasure thro' my veins you spread!
The Summer long, from day to day,
My leaves you freshen'd and bedew'd;
"Twas when the Parents, who had mourn'd Nor was it common gratitude
That did your cares repay.
When Spring came on with bud and bell,
Among these rocks did I
Before you hang my wreaths, to tell
That gentle days were nigh:
And in the sultry summer hours
I shelter'd you with leaves and flowers;
And in my leaves-now shed and gone-
The linnet lodged, and for us two
Chanted his pretty songs, when you
Had little voice or none.
But now proud thoughts are in your
What grief is mine you see: [breast;
Ah, would you think, even yet how blest
Together we might be!
Though of both leaf and flower bereft,
Some ornaments to me are left,-
Rich store of scarlet hips is mine,
With which I, in my humble way,
Would deck you many a winter day,
A happy Eglantine!"
What more he said I cannot tell:
The Torrent down the rocky dell
"BEGONE, thou fond presumptuous Elf," Came thundering loud and fast;
Exclaim'd an angry Voice,
"Nor dare to thrust thy foolish self
Between me and my choice!"
A small Cascade fresh swoln with snows
Thus threaten'd a poor Briar-rose,
That, all bespatter'd with his foam,
And dancing high and dancing low.
Was living, as a child might know,
In an unhappy home.
THE OAK AND THE BROOM.
A PASTORAL.
HIS simple truths did Andrew glean
Beside the babbling rills;
"Dost thou presume my course to block? A careful student he had been
Off off! or, puny Thing,
I'll hurl thee headlong with the rock
To which thy fibres cling."
The Flood was tyrannous and strong;
The patient Briar suffer'd long,
Nor did he utter groan or sigh,
Hoping the danger would be past;
Among the woods and hills.
One Winter's night, when thro' the trees
The wind was roaring, on his knees
His youngest born did Andrew hold;
And, while the rest, a ruddy quire,
Were seated round their blazing fire,
This Tale the Shepherd told.
of its head an Oak had grown, room out of its feet.
Disasters, do the best we can,
Will reach both great and small;
And he is oft the wisest man,
Who is not wise at all.
time was March, a cheerful noon, —
thaw-wind, with the breath of June,
thed gently from the warm South-It is my pleasant heritage;
en, in a voice sedate with age, [west;
Oak, a giant and a sage,
neighbour thus address'd:
For me, why should I wish to roam?
This spot is my paternal home,
-ht weary weeks, thro' rock and clay, g this mountain's edge, [day, Frost hath wrought both night and ge driving after wedge.
up! and think, above your head t trouble, surely, will be bred; night I heard a crash, - 'tis true, splinters took another road,them yonder;- what a load such a Thing as you!
are preparing, as before,
My father many a happy year
Spread here his careless blossoms, here
Attain'd a good old age.
Even such as his may be my lot.
What cause have I to haunt
My heart with terrors? Am I not
In truth a favour'd plant?
On me such bounty Summer pours,
That I am cover'd o'er with flowers;
And, when the Frost is in the sky,
My branches are so fresh and gay
That you might look at me and say,
This Plant can never die.
The butterfly, all green and gold,
To me hath often flown,
yet, just three years back-no more,- Here in my blossoms to behold
Eyes of some men travel far
For the finding of a star;
Up and down the heavens they go,
Men that keep a mighty rout!
I'm as great as they, I trow,
Since the day I found thee out,
Little Flower! - I'll make a stir,
Like a sage astronomer.
Modest, yet withal an Elf
Bold, and lavish of thyself;
Since we needs must first have met
I have seen thee, high and low,
Thirty years or more, and yet
"Twas a face I did not know;
Thou hast now, go where I may,
Fifty greetings in a day.
Ere a leaf is on a bush,
In the time before the thrush
Has a thought about her nest,
Thou wilt come with half a call,
Spreading out thy glossy breast
Like a careless Prodigal;
Telling tales about the Sun,
When we've little warmth, or none.
Poets, vain men in their mood,
Travel with the multitude:
Never heed them; I aver
That they all are wanton wooers;
But the thrifty cottager,
Who stirs little out of doors,
Joys to spy thee near her home;
Spring is coming, Thou art come!
Comfort have thou of thy merit,
Kindly, unassuming Spirit!
Careless of thy neighbourhood,
Thou dost show thy pleasant face
On the moor, and in the wood,
In the lane; there's not a place,
Howsoever mean it be,
But 'tis good enough for thee.
Ill befall the yellow flowers,
Children of the flaring hours!
The flower here celebrated is the ting itself up and opening out according
on Pilewort. In his notes on the
, the author speaks thus: "It is re-
ble that this flower, coming out so
in the Spring as it does, and so
and beautiful, and in such profu-
hould not have been noticed earlier
glish verse. What adds much to the
to the degree of light and temperature of
the air."-It may be observed that Words-
worth seldom, if ever, speaks of the fra
grance of flowers. The pleasure from this
source was denied to him: he had no sense
of smell, -a deficiency that he himself re-
gretted very much.
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