Book the Second

No more of Usurpation's doom'd defeat,
Ere we the deep preluding strain have pour'd
To the Great Father, Only Rightful King,
Eternal Father! King Omnipotent!
Beneath whose shadowy banners wide unfurl'd
Justice leads forth her tyrant-quelling Hosts,
Such Symphony requires best Instrument.
Seize then my Soul! from Freedom's trophied Dome
The Harp which hanging high between the shields
Of Brutus and Leonidas, oft gives
A fitful music to the breezy touch
Of patriot Spirits that demand their fame.
For what is Freedom, but the unfetter'd use
Of all the Powers which God for use had given?
But chiefly this, with holiest habitude
Of constant Faith, him First, him Last to view
Thro' meaner powers and secondary things
Effulgent, as thro' clouds that veil his blaze.
For all that meets the bodily sense I deem
Symbolical, one mighty alphabet
For infant minds; and we in this low world
Placed with our backs to bright Reality,
That we may learn with young unwounded ken
Things from their shadows. Know thyself my Soul!
Confirm'd thy strength, thy pinions fledged for flight
Bursting this shell and leaving next thy nest
Soon upward soaring shalt thou fix intense
Thine eaglet eye on Heaven's eternal Sun!
But some there are who deem themselves most free,
When they within this gross and visible sphere
Chain down the winged thought, scoffing ascent
Proud in their meanness: and themselves they cheat
With noisy emptiness of learned phrase,
Their subtle fluids, impacts, essences,
Self-working Tools, uncaus'd Effects, and all
Those blind Omniscients, those Almighty Slaves,
Untenanting Creation of its God.
But Properties are God: the naked mass
"Acts only by its inactivity.
Here we pause humbly. Others boldlier think
That as one body is the aggregate
Of atoms numberless, each organiz'd;
So by a strange and dim similitude,
Infinite myriads of self-conscious minds
Form one all-conscious Spirit, who directs
With absolute ubiquity of thought
All his component monads, that yet seem
With various province and apt agency
Each to pursue its own self-centering end.
Some nurse the infant diamond in the mine;
Some roll the genial juices thro' the oak;
Some drive the mutinous clouds to clash in air;
And rushing on the storm with whirlwind speed
Yoke the red lightning to their vollying car.
Thus these pursue their never-varying course,
No eddy in their stream. Others more wild,
With complex interests weaving human fates,
Duteous or proud, alike obedient all,
Evolve the process of eternal good.

And what if some rebellious, o'er dark realms
Arrogate power? yet these train up to God,
And on the rude eye unconfirm'd for day
Flash meteor lights better than total gloom.
As ere from Lieule-Oaive's vapoury head
The Laplander beholds the far-off sun
Dart his slant beam on unobeying snows,
While yet the stern and solitary Night
Brooks no alternate sway, the Boreal Morn
With mimic lustre substitutes its gleam
Guiding his course, or by Niemi's lake
Or Balda-Zhiok, or the mossy stone
Of Solfar-Kapper, while the snowy blast
Drifts arrowy by, or eddies round his sledge
Making the poor babe at its mother's back
Scream in its scanty cradle: he the while
Wins gentle solace as with upward eye
He marks the streamy banners of the North,
Thinking, himself those happy spirits shall join
Who there in floating robes of rosy light
Dance sportively. For Fancy is the power
That first unsensualizes the dark mind
Giving it new delights; and bids it swell
With wild activity; and peopling air,
By obscure fears of Beings invisible
Emancipates it from the grosser thrall
Of the present impulse, teaching self controul
'Till Superstition with unconscious hand
Seat Reason on her throne. Wherefore not vain,
Nor yet without permitted power impress'd,
I deem those legends terrible, with which
The polar Ancient thrills his uncouth throng:
Whether of pitying Spirits that make their moan
"slaughter'd infants, or that Giant Bird
Vuokho, of whose rushing wings the noise
Is Tempest, when the unutterable Shape
Speeds from the Mother of Death his destin'd way
To snatch the murderer from his secret cell!
Or if the Greenland Wizard in strange trance
Pierces the untravell'd realms of ocean's bed
(Where live the innocent, as far from cares
As from the storms and overwhelming waves
Dark-tumbling on the surface of the deep)
Over the abysm even to that uttermost cave
By mishap'd Prodigies beleager'd, such
As Earth ne'er bred, nor Air, nor the upper Sea.
There dwells the fury Form, whose unheard name
With eager eye, pale cheek, suspended breath
Unsleeping Silence guards, worn out with fear
Lest haply escaping on some treacherous blast
The fatal Sound let slip the Elements
And frenzy Nature. Yet the. wizard her,
Arm'd with Torngarsuck's power, the Spirit of good,
Forces to unchain the foodful progeny
Of the Ocean stream. Wild phantasies! yet wise,.
On the victorious goodness of high God
Teaching Reliance and medicinal Hope,
'Till, from Bethabra northward, heavenly Truth
With gradual steps winning her difficult way
Transfer their rude Faith perfected and pure.

If there be Beings of higher class than Man,
I deem no nobler province they possess
Than by disposal of apt circumstance
To rear some realm with patient discipline,.
Aye bidding Pain, dark Error's uncouth child,
Blameless Parenticide! his snakey scourge
Lift fierce against his Mother! Thus they make
Of transient Evil ever-during Good
Themselves probationary, and denied
Confess'd to view by preternatural deed
To o'erwhelm the will, save on some fated day
Headstrong, or with petition'd might from God.

And such perhaps the guardian Power whose ken
Still dwelt on France. He from the Invisible World
Burst on the Maiden's eye, impregning Air
With Voices and strange Shapes, illusions apt,
Shadowy of Truth. And first a landscape rose
More wild and waste and desolate, than where
The white bear drifting on a field of ice
Howls to her sunder'd cubs with piteous rage
And savage agony. Mid the drear scene
A craggy mass uprear'd its misty brow,
Untouch'd by breath of Spring, unwont to know
Red Summer's influence, or the chearful face
Of Autumn; yet its fragments many and huge
Astounded ocean with the dreadful dance
Of whirlpools numberless, absorbing oft
The blameless fisher at his perilous toil.
Upon the topmost height the Maiden saw
A meteor-lighted dome: to every blast
Shook the wide fabric, tottering as to fall,
For ever tottering; round the tempests yell'd
Tremendous, music hoarse! yet to the ear
Of him who there had rule, the Dynast stern,
Not undelightful. His perturbed flight
Anxious and gloomy, speeding hitherwards,
She saw the dark-wing'd Shape: with all it's towers
The palace nods: such was Ambition's voice!
Obedient first, fierce servant of fierce Lord,
Cowl'd Superstition comes, her loosen'd robes
Float on the breeze and half exposed to view
The rusted dagger. By her side crept on
Mitred Hypocrisy, with meekest mien
And step demure, and cross, which to his heart
He prest, and seem'd with heaven-ward eye to pour
The pious prayer; yet never prayer he pour'd
Save when with secret glance he view'd the crowd
Admiring near. Revenge unwilling quits
The mangled corse; and prodigal of death
Next Slaughter strode; his falchion yet unsheath'd
Reeks from the wound, loose flow his long black locks,
The wide roll of his eye is terrible,
And each limb quivers. Cruelty comes next,
With savage smile grasping a widowed dove.
And Fury next beating her own swoln breast
Rush'd at the call: and Envy hideous form
Gnawing her flesh, and tearing from her head
The viper turn'd to bite: and Horror wild
With creeping flesh. Despair his sullen arms
Folded; aye muttering dark and half-form'd words
Of dreadful import. Aged Avarice next
Hugg'd to his heart his bags, and cast around
(Unwilling tho' to lose the golden sight,)
The fearful look. And fitful Jealousy
Anxious for misery came: and feverish Lust
Hot from the convent. Palsied Fear fled on,
And ever as he fled his ghastly eye
Reverts. Then stalk'd along the giant form
Of proud Oppression, on his crowned brow
Sate Desolation, and his pityless frown
Dispeopled countries: him behind a train
Loathly and horrible, of nameless fiends
Outnumbering locusts. Last, as fill'd with fear
Suspicion ever-watchful clos'd the train:
Pale meagre spectre, ribb'd with iron plates,
Sleepless, and fearful of the friendly meal,
Worn out with anxious vigilance of life.

These at the palace meet, there, porter fit.
Remorse for ever his sad vigils kept,
His heart the viper's feast: worn down his face,
If face it were when scarce the shrivell'd skin
Wrap'd o'er the bone, proclaim'd the gnawing pang:
Inly he groan'd, or starting wildly, shriek'd,
Aye as the fabric tottering from its base
Threaten'd destruction, tho' oft announc'd withheld,
Tho' still withheld, expected.
These the Maid
Mark'd as they steer'd their dusky flight along;
And lo! she was amidst them.
Paved with bones
The floor breath'd pestilence: the emblazon'd walls
With ensigns and with blood-stain'd arms were hung,
The trophies of Ambition.
On his throne
That Form portentous rear'd his giant bulk,
More huge than he, who with his hundred arms
Scatter'd confusion o'er the host of Gods
Briareus: or the monster brethren twain,
Whose stature swelling every hour gave hopes
Of equalling highest Heaven: nor larger he
Illusive, 'gainst whose head the thunderer Thor
Sped frustrate his full force. A sable helm
Shades his brown face, where glow'd thro' each dark tint
The fire of anger; in his hand he grasp'd
The desolating spear: his broad black brow
In thought contracted spake his brooding soul,
Sullenly silent.
"Maid beloved of Heaven!"
"her the tutelary Power exclaimed)
"Of Chaos the adventurous progeny
"Thou seest; foul missionaries of foul sire,
"Fierce to regain the losses of that hour
"When Love rose glittering, and his gorgeous wings
"Over the abyss flutter'd with such glad noise,
"As what time after long and pestful Calms
"With slimy shapes and miscreated life
"Pois'ning the vast Pacific, the fresh breeze
"Wakens the merchant sail, uprising. Night
"An heavy unimaginable moan
"Sent forth, when she the Protoplast beheld
"Stand beauteous on Confusion's charmed wave.
"Moaning she fled, and entered the Profound
"That leads with downward windings to the Cave
"Of darkness palpable, desart of Death,
"Sunk deep beneath Gehenna's many roots.
"There many a dateless age the Beldame lurk'd
"And trembled: till engender'd by fierce Hate,
"Fierce Hate and gloomy Hope, a Dream arose
"Shap'd like a black cloud mark'd with streaks of fire.
"It rous'd the Hell-hag: she the dew-damps wip'd
"From off her brow, and thro' the uncouth maze
"Retraced her steps; but ere she reach'd the mouth
"Of that drear labyrinth, shudd'ring she paus'd
"Nor dar'd re-enter the diminish'd Gulph.
"As thro' the dark vaults of some moulder'd tower
"(Which fearful to approach, the evening hind
"Circles at distance in his homeward way)
"The winds breathe hollow, deem'd the plaining groan
"Of prison'd spirits; with such fearful voice
"Night murmur'd, and the sound thro' Chaos went.
"Leapt at the call her hideous-fronted brood!
"A dark behest they heard, and rush'd on earth,
"Since that sad hour in camps and courts adored
"Rebels from God and Monarchs o'er Mankind!
"These are the fiends that o'er thy native land
"Spread Guilt and Horror. Maid belov'd of Heaven!
"Dar'st thou inspir'd by the holy flame of Love
"Encounter such fell shapes, nor fear to meet
"Their wrath, their wiles? O Maiden, dar'st thou die?

"Father of Heaven! I will not fear, "she said
"My arm is weak, but mighty is thy sword.

She spake and as she spake the trump was heard
That echoed ominous o'er the streets of Rome,
When the first Caesar totter'd o'er the grave
By Freedom delv'd: the Trump, whose chilling blast
On Marathon and on Plataea's plain
Scatter'd the Persian. From his obscure haunt
Shriek'd Fear, the ghastliest of Ambition's throng,
Fev'rish yet freezing, eager paced, yet flow;
As she that creeps from forth her swampy reeds
Ague, the biform Hag! when early Spring
Beams on the marsh-bred vapours. "Lo! she goes!
"To Orleans lo! she goes — the Mission'd Maid!
"The Victor Hosts wither beneath her arm!
"And what are Crecy, Poictiers, Azincour
"But noisy echoes in the ear of Pride?"
Ambition heard and startled on his throne;
But strait a smile of savage joy illum'd
His grisly features, like the sheety Burst
Of Lightning o'er the awaken'd midnight clouds
Wide-flash'd. For lo! a flaming pile reflects
Its red light fierce and gloomy on the face
Of Superstition and her goblin Son,
Loud-laughing Cruelty, who to the stake
A female fix'd, of bold and beauteous mien,
Her snow-white Limbs by iron fetters bruis'd,
Her breast expos'd. JOAN saw, she saw and knew
Her perfect, image. Nature thro' her frame
One pang shot shiv'ring; but, that frail pang soon
Dismiss'd, "Even so" (the exulting Maiden said)
"The sainted Heralds of Good Tidings fell,
"And thus they witness'd God! But now the Clouds
"Treading, and Storms beneath their feet, they soar
"Higher, and higher soar, and soaring sing
"Loud Songs of Triumph! O ye Spirits of God,.
"Hover around my mortal agonies!"
She spake: and instantly faint melody
Melts on her ear, soothing, and sad, and slow,
Such measures as at calmy midnight heard
By aged Hermit in his holy dream
Foretell and solace death: and now they rise
Louder, as when with harp and mingled voice
The white-rob'd multitude of slaughter'd Saints
At Heaven's wide-open'd portals gratulant
Receive some martyr'd Patriot. The harmony
Entranc'd the maid, 'till each suspended sense
Brief slumber seiz'd and confus'd extacy.
At length awak'ning slow she gaz'd around;
But lo! no more was seen the ice-pil'd mount.
And meteor-lighted dome. An Isle appear'd,
"high, o'erhanging, rough, broad-breasted cliffs
Glass'd on the subject, ocean. A vast plain
Stretch'd opposite, where ever and anon
The Ploughman following sad his meagre team
Turn'd up fresh skulls unstartled, and the bones
Of fierce, hate-breathing Combatants, who there
All mingled lay beneath the common earth,
Death's gloomy reconcilement! O'er the fields
Stepp'd a fair Form repairing all she might,
Her temples olive-wreath'd; and where she trod,
Fresh flowrets rose and many a foodful herb.
But wan her cheek, her footsteps insecure,
And anxious pleasure beam'd in her faint eye,
As she had newly left a couch of pain,
Pale Convalescent! (Yet some time to rule
With power exclusive o'er the willing world,
That blest prophetic Mandate then fulfill'd,
Peace be on earth!) An happy while but brief
She seem'd to wander with assiduous feet,
And heal'd the recent harm of chill or blight,
And nurs'd each plant that fair and virtuous grew.
But soon a deep precursive sound moan'd hollow:
Black rose the clouds, and now, (as in a dream)
Their red'ning shapes transform'd to warrior hosts,
Cours'd o'er the Sky, and battled in mid air.
The Sea meantime his Billows darkest roll'd,
And each stain'd wave dash'd on the shore a corse.
Nor did not the large blood-drops fall from Heaven
Portentous! while aloft were seen to float,
His hideous features blended with the mist,
The long black locks of Slaughter. Peace beheld,
And o'er the plain with oft-reverted eye
Fled, till a place of Tombs she reached, and there
Within a ruin'd sepulchre obscure
Found hiding-place,
The delegated Maid
Gaz'd thro' her tears, then in sad tones exclaim'd,
"Thou mild-ey'd Form! wherefore ah! wherefore fled?.
"The name of Justice written on thy brow
"Resplendent shone; but all they, who unblam'd
"Dwelt in thy dwellings, call thee Happiness.
"Ah! why uninjur'd and unprofited
"Should multitudes against their brethren rush?
"Why sow they guilt, still reaping misery!
"Lenient of care, thy songs, O Peace! are sweet,
"As after showers the perfum'd gale of Eve,
"That plays around the sick man's throbbing temples;
"And gay thy grassy altar pil'd with fruits.
"But boasts the shrine of Daemon War one charm?
"Save that with many an orgie strange and foul
"Dancing around with interwoven arms
"The Maniac Suicide and Giant Murder
"Exult in their fierce union! I am sad,
"And know not why the simple Peasants croud
"Beneath the Chieftain's standard!" Thus the Maid.
"To her the tutelary Spirit reply'd,
"When Luxury and Lust's exhausted stores
"No more can rouse the appetites of Kings;
"When the low Flattery of their reptile Lords
"Falls flat and heavy on the accustomed ear;
"When Eunuchs sing, and Fools buffoon ry make,
"And Dancers writhe their harlot limbs in vain:
"Then War and all its dread vicissitudes
"Pleasingly agitate their stagnant hearts,
"Its hopes, its fears, its victories, its defeats,
"Insipid Royalty's keen Condiment.
"Therefore, uninjur'd and unprofited
"(Victims at once and executioners)

"The congregated Husbandmen lay waste
"The Vineyard and the Harvest: as along
"The Bothnic Coast or southward of the Line
"Though hush'd the Winds, and cloudless the high Noon,
"Yet if Leviathan, weary of ease,
"In sports unwieldy toss his island bulk,
"Ocean behind him billows, and, before,
"A storm of Waves breaks foamy on the strand.
"And hence for times and seasons bloody and dark
"Short Peace shall skin the wounds of causeless War,
"And War, his strained sinews knit anew,
"Still violate th' unfinished Works of Peace.
"But yonder look — for more demands thy view."

He said; and straightway from the opposite Isle
A Vapor rose, pierc'd by the Maiden's eye.
Guiding its course Oppression sate within,
With terror pale and rage, yet laugh'd at times
Musing on Vengeance: trembled in his hand
A Sceptre fiercely-grasp'd. O'er ocean westward
The Vapor sail'd, as when a Cloud exhal'd
From Egypt's fields, that steam hot Pestilence,
Travels the sky for many a trackless league,
Till o'er some death-doom'd Land distant in vain
It broods incumbent. Forthwith from the Plain
Facing the Isle, a brighter Cloud arose
And steer'd its course which way the Vapor went.
Envy sate guiding — Envy, hag abhorr'd!
Like Justice mask'd, and doom'd to aid the fight
Victorious 'gainst Oppression. Hush'd awhile
The Maiden paus'd, musing what this might mean;
But long time pass'd not, ere that brighter Cloud
Return'd more bright: along the Plain it swept;
And soon from forth its bursting sides emerg'd
A dazzling Form, broad-bosom'd, bold of Eye,
And wild her hair save where by Laurels bound.
Not more majestic stood the healing God
When from his Bow the arrow sped, that slew
Huge Python. Shriek'd Ambition's ghastly throng,
And with them those, the locust Fiends that crawl'd
And glitter'd in Corruption's slimy track.
Great was their wrath, for short they knew their reign.
And such Commotion made they and Uproar
As when the mad Tornado bellows thro'
The guilty Islands of the western main,
What time departing for their native shores,
Eboe, or Koromantyn's plain of Palms,
The infuriate Spirits of the Murder'd make
Fierce merriment, and vengeance ask of Heaven.
Warm'"d with new Influence the unwholsome Plain
Sent up its foulest fogs to meet the Morn:
The Sun, that rose on Freedom, rose in blood!

"Maiden beloved, and Delegate of Heaven!
"her the tutelary Spirit said)
"Soon shall the Morning struggle into Day,
"The stormy Morning into cloudless Noon.
"Much hast thou seen, nor all can'st understand —
"But this be thy best Omen, Save thy Country!"
Thus saying, from the answering Maid he pass'd,
And with him disappear'd the goodly Vision.

"Glory to thee, Father of Earth and Heaven!
"All-conscious Presence of the Universe!
"Nature's vast ever-acting Energy!
"In will, in deed, Impulse of All to all;
"Whether thy Law with unrefracted Ray
"Beam on the Prophet's purged Eye, or if
"Diseasing Realms the Enthusiast wild of thought
"Scatter new frenzies on the infected Throng,
"Thou Both inspiring, and predooming Both,
"Fit Instruments and best of perfect End.
"Glory to thee, Father of Earth and Heaven I"

Return, adven'trous Song! to where Dunois
With eager ear heard from the Maid her tale
Of early youth and Mission from on high.
And now beneath the Horizon west'ring slow
Had sunk the orb of Day: a milder Light
Soften'd the scene, fading thro' every hue
'Till twilight's deep'ning mists o'ershadow'd all.
The travelers wend, beguiling the long way
With converse, 'till the dewy Damps of Night
Rose round. Far off" a glimm'ring taper's ray
Gleam'd thro' the embowered gloom: to that they turn.
An aged man came forth; his scant grey locks
Waved on the night breeze. Time had written deep
On his shrunk face the characters of age.
Them louting low with rustic courtesy
He welcom'd in, on the white-ember'd hearth
Then heapt fresh fuel, and with friendly care
Spread out the homely board: fatigued they eat
The country cakes and quaff the nut-brown bowl.

"Strangers, your fare is homely," said their Host,
"But such as we poor men earn with hard toil:
"In faith ye are welcome to it. I do love
"A soldier, my old heart seems young again.
"Poor and decrepit as I am, my arm
"Once grasp'd the sword full firmly, and my limbs
"Were strong as thine. Sir Warrior! God be with thee
"And send thee better fortune than old Bertram!
"I would that I were young again to meet
"These haughty English in the field of fight.
"Such as I was when on the fatal plain
"Of Azincour I met them."
"Wert thou then
"A sharer in that dreadful day's defeat?"
Exclaim'd the Bastard, "didst thou know the chief
"Of Orleans?"
"Know him! the old veteran cried,
"I saw him ere the bloody fight began
"Riding from rank to rank, his beaver up,
"The long lance quivering in his mighty grasp.
"Full was his eye and fierce, yet beaming still
"On all his countrymen chearful and mild
"Winning all hearts. Looking at thee Sir Knight
"Methinks I see him now, such was his eye
"So mild in peace, such was his manly brow.
"Beshrew me but I weep at the remembrance."

"Full was his eye," exclaim'd the Bastard Son
"Of Orleans, "yet it beam'd benevolence.
"I never yet saw love so dignified!
"There lived not one his vassal but adored
"The good the gallant Chief. Amid his halls
"High blazed the hospitable hearth, the pilgrim
"Of other countries seeing his high towers
"Rejoiced, for he had often heard of Orleans:
"He lives, my brother! bound in the hard chain
"He lives most wretched."
The big tear roll'd down
The Warriors cheeks, t: but he shall live, Dunois,"
Exclaim'd the Mission'd Maid, "but he shall live
"To hear good tidings; hear of Liberty,
"Of his own liberty by his brother's arm
"Atchiev'd in hard fought battle. He shall live
"Happy. The memory of his prison'd years
"Shall heighten all his joys, and his grey hairs
"Go to the grave in peace."
"I would fain live
"To see that day," replied their aged host,
"How would my heart leap once more to behold
"The gallant generous chieftain! I fought by him
"When all the hopes of victory were lost,
"And down his batter'd arms the blood stream'd fast
"From many a wound. Like wolves they hemm'd us in
"Fierce in unhoped for conquest: all around
"Our dead and dying countrymen lay heap'd.
"Yet still he strove, I wondered at his valour!
"Was not a man that on that fatal day
"Fought bravelier."
"Fatal was that day to France,"
Exclaim'd the Bastard, "there Alencon died
"Valiant in vain; and he the haughty chief
"'Albert, who rashly arrogant of strength
"Impetuous rush'd to ruin. Brabant fell,
"Vaudemont and Marie, and Bar, and Faquenberg,
"Her noblest warriors, daring in despair
"Fought the fierce foe — ranks fell on ranks before them:
"The prisoners of that shameful day out-summ'd
"Their victors!
"There are those," old Bertram cried,
"Who for his deeds will honor Henry's name.
"That honor that a conqueror may deserve
"He merits, for right valiantly he fought
"On that disastrous day; but when the field
"Was won, and those who had escaped the carnage
"Had yielded up their arms, it was most foul
"On his defenceless prisoners to glut
"The blunted sword of conquest. Girt around
"I to their mercy had surrendered me,
"When lo! I heard the dreadful groan of death —
"Not as amid the fray, when man met man
"And in fair combat gave the mortal blow;
"Here the poor captives, weaponless and bound
"Saw their stern victors draw again the sword,
"And groan'd and strove in vain to free their hands
"And bade them think upon their plighted faith
"And pray'd for mercy in the name of God
"In vain: Their King had bade them massacre,
"And in their helpless prisoners' naked breasts
"They drove the sword. Then I expected death
"And at that moment death was terrible;
"For the heat of flight was over; of my home
"I thought, and of my wife and little ones
"In bitterness of heart. The gallant man,
"Whose by the chance of war I had become,
"Had pity, and he loos'd my hands and said,
"Frenchman! I would have killed thee in the battle —
"But my arm shrinks at murder — get thee hence."
"It was the will of heaven that I should live
"Childless and old to think upon the past
"And wish that I had perish'd!"
The old man
Wept as he spake. "Ye may perhaps have heard
"Of the hard siege so long by Rouen endur'd.
"I dwelt there strangers, I had then a wife
"And I had children tenderly beloved,
"Who I did hope should cheer me in old age
"And close mine eyes. The tale of Misery
"May-hap were tedious, or I could relate
"Much of that dreadful siege."
The Maid replied
Anxious of that devoted town to learn.
Thus then the veteran —
"From that field of shame
"To France so fatal, Azincour, escap'd;
"I speeded homewards and abode in peace.
"Henry as wise as brave had back to England
"Led his victorious army; well aware
"That France was mighty, that her warrior sons,
"Impatient of a foreign victor's sway,
"Might rise impetuous, and with multitudes
"Tread down the invaders. Wisely he return'd,
"For the proud Barons in their private broils
"Wasted the strength of France. I dwelt at home
"Peaceful though lowly, with my little store
"Content. I lov'd around the cheerful hearth
"To tell of all the perils I had known:
"My children they would sit and listen eager,
"And bless the all-good Father who preserv'd me.

"Ah me — when war the masters of mankind,
"Woe to the poor man! If he sow the field,
"He shall not reap the harvest: if he see
"His blooming children rise around, his heart
"Aches at the thought that they are multiplied
"To the sword! Again from England the fierce foe
"Rush'd on our ravag'd coasts. In battle bold,
"Savage in conquest, their victorious King
"Swept like the desolating tempest round.
"Dambiere's submits — on Caen's subjected walls
"Proudly in conquest wav'd the English flag.
"Bulwark of Normandy, Rouen still remain'd;
"Nor unresisted round our massy walls
"Fix'd they their camp. I need not tell Sir Knight
"How oft and boldly on th' invading; host
"We burst with fierce assault impetuous forth;.
"For many were the warrior Sons of Rouen.
"O'er all that gallant Citizen was fam'd
"For virtuous hardihood preeminent
"Blanchard. He, gathering his compatriots round,
"With his own courage kindling every breast,
"Had bade them vow before Almighty God
"Never to yield them to the usurping foe
"While yet their arms could lift the spear; while yet
"Life was to think of every pledge that man
"Most values. To the God of Hosts we vow'd;
"And we had baffled the besieging power,
"But our cold-hearted Foeman drew around
"His strong entrenchments. From the watch-tower's top
"In vain with fearful hearts along the Seine
"We strain'd the eye, and every distant wave
"That in the sun-beam glitter'd, fondly thought
"The white sail of supply. Ah me! no more
"Rose on our aching sight the food-fraught bark;
"For guarded was the Seine, and our stern foe
"Had made a league with Famine. How my heart
"Sunk in me when at night I carried home
"The scanty pittance of to-morrow's meal!
"You know not, strangers! what it is to see
"The asking eye of hunger!
"Still we strove
"Expecting aid, till sickening Expectation
"Felt never hope, and yet most keen the pang
"Of disappointment. Tho' with christian zeal
"Ursino would have pour'd the balm of peace
"Into our wounds, ambitious ear best pleas'd
"With the War's clamor and the groan of Death,
"Was deaf to prayer. Day after day fled on;
"We heard no voice of comfort; never aid
"Arriv'd. And now the loathliest food was sought,
"And now the wretched ones lay in our streets
"Crying for food, and dying as they cry'd —
"Oh God it was a dreadful sight to see!
"Yet still we struggled nobly. Blanchard still
"Spoke of the savage fury of the foe,
"Of captives massacred at Azincour,
"Of ravaged Caen, and of her gallant sons
"In cold blood murder'd. Then his scanty food
"Sharing with the most wretched, he would bid us
"Bear with our miseries cheerly.
"Thus distress'd
"Lest all should perish thus, our chieftains doom'd
"The helpless ones — dreadful alternative,
"To seek their fates. I never shall forget
"The horrors of that hour! Oh God forbid
"That my worst foe should ever feel such pangs.
"Then as our widow wives clung round our necks,
"And the deep sob of anguish interrupted
"The prayer of parting — even the pious priest
"As he implor'd his God to strengthen us,
"And told us we should meet again in Heaven,
"He groan'd and curs'd in bitterness of heart
"That merciless man — The wretched crowd pass'd on:
"My wife — my children — thro' the gates they pass'd —
"Then the gates clos'd Would I were in my grave
"That I might lose remembrance.
"What is man
"That he can hear the groan of wretchedness
"And feel no fleshly pang! Why did the All-Good
"Create these warrior scourges of mankind,
"These who delight in slaughter? I did think
"There was not on this earth a heart so hard
"Could hear a famish'd woman cry For bread,
"And know no pity. As the outcast train
"Drew near, the English Monarch bade his troops
"Force back the miserable multitude.
"They drove them to the walls — it was the depth
"Of Winter — we had no relief to grant.
"The aged ones groan'd to our foe in vain,
"The mother pleaded for her dying child
"And they felt no remorse!"
The Mission'd Maid
Starts from her seat — "The old and the infirm
"The mother and her babes — and yet no lightning
"Blasted this man!"
"Aye Lady," Bertram cried,
"And when we sent the herald to implore
"His mercy on the helpless, he relax'd
"His stern face into savage merriment,
"Scoffing their agonies. On the high wall
"I stood and mark'd the miserable outcasts,
"And every moment thought that Henry's heart,
"Hard as it was, must feel. All night I stood —
"Their deep groans sounded on the midnight gale.
"Fainter they grew, for the cold wintry wind
"Blew bleak; fainter they grew, and at the last
"All was still, save that ever and anon
"Some mother shriek'd o'er her expiring child
"The shriek of frenzying anguish.
"From that hour
"On all the busy turmoil of the world
"I gaz'd with strange indifference; bearing want
"With the sick patience of a mind worn out.
"Nor when the Traitor yielded up our town
"Ought heeded I as through our ruin'd streets,
"Thro' putrid heaps of famish'd carcasses
"Pass'd the long pomp of triumph. One keen pang
"I felt, when by that bloody King's command
"The gallant Blanchard died. Calmly he died,
"And as he bow'd beneath the axe, thank'd God
"That he had done his duty.
"I survive,
"A solitary friendless wretched one,
"Knowing no joy save in the faith I feel
"That I shall soon be gather'd to my sires,
"And soon repose there where the wicked cease
"From troubling, and the weary are at rest.

"And happy," cried the delegated Maid,
"And happy they who in that holy faith
"Bow meekly to the rod! a little while
"Shall they endure the proud man's contumely,
"The hard wrongs of the great. A little while
"Tho' shelterless they feel the wintry wind,
"The wind shall whistle o'er their turf-grown grave,
"And all beneath be peace. But woe to those,
"Woe to the Mighty Ones who send abroad
"Their train'd assassins, and who give to Fury
"The flaming firebrand; these indeed shall live
"The heroes of the wand'ring minstrel's song,
"But they have their reward: the innocent blood
"Steams up to Heaven against them God shall hear
"The widow's groan."
So spake she and arose.
And they betook them to their homely rest.