XXXVII

'Tis dark: quick pattereth the flaw-blown sleet: 'This is no dream, my bride, my Madeline!' 'Tis dark the icèd gusts still rave and beat: 'No dream, alas! alas! and woe is mine! Porphyro will leave me here to fade and pine. Cruel! what traitor could thee hither bring? I curse not, for my heart is lost in thine, Though thou forsakest a deceived thing; A dove forlorn and lost with sick unprunèd wing.'

XXXVIII

325

330

'My Madeline! sweet dreamer! lovely bride!

Say, may I be for aye thy vassal blest?

335

Thy beauty's shield, heart-shap'd and vermeil dyed ?

Ah, silver shrine, here will I take my rest

After so many hours of toil and quest,

A famish'd pilgrim, — saved by miracle.

Though I have found, I will not rob thy nest Saving of thy sweet self; if thou think'st well To trust, fair Madeline, to no rude infidel.'

340

XXXIX

:

'Hark! 'tis an elfin storm from faery land,
Of haggard seeming, but a boon indeed:
Arise arise the morning is at hand;
The bloated wassailers will never heed:
Let us away, my love, with happy speed;
There are no ears to hear, or eyes to see,
Drown'd all in Rhenish and the sleepy mead:
Awake! arise! my love, and fearless be,

345

350

For o'er the southern moors I have a home for thee.'

XL

She hurried at his words, beset with fears,
For there were sleeping dragons all around,

At glaring watch, perhaps, with ready spears -
Down the wide stairs a darkling way they found,-
In all the house was heard no human sound.

A chain-droop'd lamp was flickering by each door;
The arras, rich with horseman, hawk, and hound,
Flutter'd in the besieging wind's uproar;
And the long carpets rose along the gusty floor.

355

360

XLI

They glide, like phantoms, into the wide hall;
Like phantoms to the iron porch they glide;
Where lay the Porter, in uneasy sprawl,

With a huge empty flagon by his side:

The wakeful bloodhound rose, and shook his hide,

365

But his sagacious eye an inmate owns:

By one, and one, the bolts full easy slide:

The chains lie silent on the footworn stones;

The key turns, and the door upon its hinges groans;

XLII

And they are gone: aye, ages long ago

These lovers fled away into the storm.

That night the Baron dreamt of many a woe,
And all his warrior-guests, with shade and form
Of witch, and demon, and large coffin-worm,
Were long be-nightmar'd. Angela the old
Died palsy-twitch'd, with meagre face deform;
The Beadsman, after thousand aves told,
For aye unsought-for slept among his ashes cold.

370

375

I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky :

It was a childish ignorance,

But now 'tis little joy

To know I'm farther off from Heav'n
Than when I was a boy.

330

THE VICTORIAN PERIOD

THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY

1800-1859

THE BATTLE OF NASEBY

BY OBADIAH BIND-THEIR-KINGS-IN-CHAINS-AND-THEIR-NOBLES-
WITH-LINKS-OF-IRON, SERGEANT IN IRETON'S REGIMENT

OH! Wherefore come ye forth, in triumph from the North,
With your hands, and your feet, and your raiment all red?
And wherefore do your rout send forth a joyous shout?
And whence are the grapes of the wine-press that ye tread?

Oh evil was the root, and bitter was the fruit,
And crimson was the juice of the vintage that we trod ;
For we trampled on the throng of the haughty and the strong,
Who sate in the high places, and slew the saints of God.

It was about the noon of a glorious day of June,
That we saw their banners dance, and their cuirasses shine;
And the Man of Blood was there, with his long essenced hair ;
And Astley, and Sir Marmaduke, and Rupert of the Rhine.

5

ΙΟ

Like a servant of the Lord, with his Bible and his sword,
The General rode along us to form us for the fight,

When a murmuring sound broke out, and swelled into a shout, Among the godless horsemen upon the tyrant's right.

15

And hark! like the roar of the billow on the shore,
The cry of battle rises along their charging line!

For God! for the Cause! for the Church, for the Laws !
For Charles, King of England, and Rupert of the Rhine!

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