Unknown to all save the old friar,
Who bore this ring to me by her desire-
Tidings that brain-heart-soul did fire!

"She might have been to kings allied-
But this forbore to be my bride-

She might have been beloved and cherished-
But for my sake, she pined and perished—
A minstrel poor-on INDIA's shore

Singing for bread from door to door.

"Whilom along the ARNO's side,

We wandered oft at eventide,

She gazing on the glowing skies,

And I into her laughing eyes;

And there, when Angels watched above,

I told to her my burning love.

I have no power-no words to tell
How much I loved young ISABELLE.
She was the Angel of my youth-
The paragon of love and truth-
The child of art and minstrelsy-

All light-all loveliness to me,

And Oh that she should dare the surf

Repose upon the chilling turf

Three weary years

In pain and tears

For me, who could betray her trust-
O God! O God! thy wrath is just !

"I know not why

Tears filled mine eye,

Whene'er for me she woke her lyre-
Its every tone was fraught with fire,
That made life's sluggish current start,
And boil along my every vein,
Up to the caverns of the brain,
Then left it freezing round my heart.
Ever upon its mournful swell

Came thoughts to me of ISABELLE
Beauty and Love—and Italy—
And of my hideous perfidy.

Mine eyes have hung upon her form,
As held by some unearthly charm;
I've stood beneath the burning sky,
And drank her matchless minstrelsy-
Have lain at noon of night and wept,
While through my lattice lone it swept—
Lone as some fallen spirit's chime-

Sad as the funeral dirge of Time.

Five summers since I sought this land
Despite my ISABELLE's command-
Here yielded to thy wealth and beauty
My plighted heart and sacred duty—
And well hath Heaven avenged my sin;

My babes like autumn flowers have faded
And passed from earth-my heart hath been
By hell's consuming fires invaded—
Peace--pleasure driven from my breast--
And, from my haunted pillow, rest.
The flowers she loved and tended much,

Shrink coldly shivering from my touch;
The stars look down upbraidingly;

Even reptiles curse my perfidy-

And all that now, dear LEILA, I can crave

Of thee, is prayer, and pardon, and a grave-

Let no one write my history-

Indite no epitaph for me-

My country, name, or woe to tell—

I only crave to rest by ISABELLE.”

XII.

Pale as a marble statue there,

Still LEILA knelt with vacant stare;

'Twas as some unexpected dart

Had instantly transfixed her heart-

The grave had opened at her feet-
From its cold clasp left no retreat.
She passed her hand before her eyes,
Her soul's emotions to disguise,

And to conceal the tears that slid
In silence from each burning lid-
Then faintly said "In thy despair
Thou hast my pardon--and my prayer ;
Arouse thee from this lethargy-

What is the world-life-light to me-
Youth, beauty, wealth-unshared by thee!
I had a dream in my sweet youth

Of nuptial bliss untouched by ruth,

Such as our own seemed-but 'tis past

It was too pure-too heavenly bright to last!"

XIII.

Little can prayer avail on high,
For those who will and crave to die.
Still day and night he strode the dale-
Still day and night became more pale-
More solemn in his mien and mood-
More wed to grief and solitude ;
And ere the leaves of autumn fell,
They laid him down by ISABELLE.

XIV.

LEILA had youth and beauty left,
But sudden grief her heart had cleft;
Forth from that melancholy hour,
She GAMBA Sought in twilight bower,

And heard his trembling lips recite
The tale that turned her heart to night;

She never woke to him her pain,
Or craved to know his grief again:

She never told to friend nor foe

Whence came, nor how, this wasting woe-
None knew the death-chill at her heart,
Save he who planted there the dart-
They only heard her constant sighs,
And missed the lustre from her eyes,
And saw her cheek fade, hue by hue,
As flowers beneath the autumn dew;
Her words to GAMBA still were kind,
And soothing to his ruined mind—
Even in his latest, dying hour,
They held o'er him a magic power.

But from that mournful eve they laid
Him down beside the Gipsy maid,

They never saw young LEILA more ;