Of those beloved fields she oft Had heard her Father tell Haunted her lonely cell ; She heard the ancestral stream; Forgotten like a dream! PART IV. The ever-changing Moon had traced Twelve times her monthly round, When through the unfrequented Waste Was heard a startling sound ; At speed a wounded deer, And where the wood was clear. The fainting creature took the marsh, And toward the Island fled, Above his antlered head; Shrunk to her citadel; The tangled covert fell. The Hunter followed fast, A death-proclaiming blast ; Then, resting on her upright mind, Came forth the Maid-" In me Behold," she said, “a stricken Hind Pursued by destiny ! “From your deportment, Sir! I deem have worn a sword, And will not hold in light esteem A suffering woman's word ; I might have lain concealed, Not even to you revealed. “ Tears might be shed, and I might pray, Crouching and terrified, You would in mystery hide ; The knee that bends to adore This ask and no more! 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 harborless, And honor want a home; And happy were I, if the Czar Retain his lawless will, Or a lamb on a green hill." “Are you the Maid," the Stranger cried, “ From Gallic parents sprung, Whose vanishing was rumored wide, Sad theme for every tongue; You, Lady, forced to wear Your head in this dark lair !" And in her face and mien Without a veil between : Kindled ’mid rapturous tears ; As on the wings of years. “Such bounty is no gift of chance," Exclaimed he; “ righteous Heaven, To me the charge hath given. Is stormy and self-willed ; His violence is stilled. “ Leave open to my wish the course, And I to her will go ; From that humane and heavenly source, Good, only good, can flow.” Faint sanction given, the Cavalier Was eager to depart, To the Maiden's filial heart. Light was his step,-his hopes, more light, Kept pace with his desires : Of Moscow's glittering spires. To the lorn Fugitive As sovereign power could give. Amazement rose to pain, Of something void and vain ; 'Twas when the Parents, who had mourned So long the lost as dead, Beheld their only Child returned, The household floor to tread. Soon gratitude gave way to love Within the Maiden's breast In bridal garments drest; The Czar bestowed a dower; The triumph of that hour. Was held with costly state; The Foster-parents sate; Encouraged by the imperial eye, They shrank not into shade; To them and nature paid ! SONNET. FROM THE ITALIAN OF MICHAEL ANGELO, YES! hope may with my strong desire keep pace, And I be undeluded, unbetrayed ; GLAD sight wherever new with old Is joined through some dear homebörn tie; |