VIII.

Within the cell dark AIZEN went,
Knelt down beside the wizard's knee,
And gazed up in his face intent,
While inward grief his bosom rent.
"Father, thou knowest my misery,"
He said, "the wrong, the cruel strife
That drove me to this desperate life;
Upon revenge I then resolved,

Nor

years consumed in woe and crime My plans of vengeance have dissolved,

Nor can the ceaseless lapse of time. Often before I have been here

Since first to love I bade farewell, And entered on my dark career;

But found thee not within thy cell, Nor caught a glimpse of the false fair, Nor sire who drove me to despair;

And now we meet-say, in this vale

Lives SELEN and his fair ZENEL ? "

"Yes, yes, brave Greek, yet here they live,

I saw the lady yester eve;

She hastened here with tearful eye,

To learn her lover's destiny,

Who long had been upon the sea,
Or underneath the waves may be."

"Tis well! no more I need unfold

Thou knowest it all-here, take this gold ;Let not thine art nor power thee fail

To win to me the young ZENEL;

It is for this I sought your shore

It must be done, ere one day more
Into eternity has sped,"

In sullen mood stern AIZEN said.

IX.

The wizard flung aside his hood-
A moment sat in thoughtful mood;
And having then the plan espied,
In hollow tones he thus replied :-
"It shall be done; to-morrow eve,
Soon as the sun shall take his leave,
The harvest moon resume her reign,
And softly light the hill and plain;
With two or three of thy brave men
Hie thee along this gloomy glen;
And I anon will lead thee where
The lady nightly kneels in prayer.”

66

Thank thee, old man; be true to me,
And boundless gold thy meed shall be ;
To-morrow eve I will be here

With men whose courage knows no fear,"
He said,-rose-bowed, and journeyed back,
O'er winding vale and mountain track,
And rocky pass, and moor, and lea,
Until he reached again the sea,-

And there he stood beside the ocean,

Meet emblem of his breast's commotion;

Gazing upon the billows blue

Until his garments dripped with dew;
Then glided up and down the strand
With clouded brow and clenched hand,—
And more than once he dashed his hood
Upon the ground in sullen mood,
Ere down the rocky steep's descent
He slowly to his hammock went,
To list the billows' booming chime

Around his couch-and dream of crime.

CANTO II.

THE CAPTURE.

I.

It is the mellow, melting hour,

When lovers meet to breathe their vows,

Soft Philomela cheers the bower,

And lightly dews be-gem the boughs,

When Melancholy bends her head,

And Mirth goes reeling to her bed,
The music of the dawning spheres
Entrances misanthropic ears-
Night with her diadem of stars

Ascends the throne of day on golden bars.

II.

And AIZEN hastes along the glen
Close followed by three sturdy men,
The wizard, who oft whispered low
The safest path that they might go.
At length they reach a little lawn,
Where panting lies the speckled fawn,

And just beyond a cot is seen

Behind the tangled myrtle's screen,— Why stops he here? what hath he spied In such a spot at eventide,

To fix his eye, and kindle now

?

A smile upon his iron brow ?—

A youthful maid beneath a tree,
In prayer upon her bended knee.

Her brow, entwined in myrtle bands,

Is hid within her tiny hands;

The white mantilla o'er her head

In neat simplicity is spread,

Her sable tresses pending low
Beneath it veil a robe of snow,
Guarding in ample folds and meet

Her faultless form and fairy feet.
Like frighted fawn she raised her head,

As she had heard a hasty tread,

And gazed around her breathlessly,
In search of friend or enemy;

But when she saw nor fawn nor form
Of man along the lawn nor plain,
Nor aught a gentle maid would harm,
She bent her o'er her beads again.