"Not so-not so-thou must not moan A lover faithless and ingrate;
There is a pow'r, when hope is gone,
All hope, can overrule our fate.
"Not so not so-his guiltless hand
With murder never shall be dyed:
By strength unseen, a seraph-band
Shall turn the thirsty sword aside."
Such were the agonies intense
That his distracted bosom rent,
As shuddering frore in every sense
He homeward to the castle went.
And now, amid the dusky steam,
The modest morn peer'd o'er the hill;
And, promis'd by a golden gleam,
Larks hail'd the sun in carols shrill.
LOUD howl'd the storm, no star appear'd,
The lab'ring moon was seen no more;
But oft, by fretful fits, was heard
The distant torrent's angry roar ;
When, studious of his wayward doom,
The wondrous orphan took his way
(So chanc'd it) to the pictur'd room
That in the southern gall❜ry lay.
Full many a grisly form he view'd
Of warrior who in battle died,
By painting clad in armour rude;
Quaint casque, or morion's crested pride.
But most one semblance caught his sight,
Completely mail'd, of martial air ;
And much he eyed, with fond affright,
A chief so formidably fair.
When sudden, oped by secret springs,
Portentous from the living frame,
While hoarse the hollow casement rings,
Completely mail'd the robber came;
Robber no more: in silent wrath,
The fearful calm of smother'd ire,
He mutters, as he points the path:
"Rise, recreant, and pursue thy sire."
Through the long gall'ry's winding maze,
Down the steep stairs before unknown,
He follows slow with dubious gaze,
While the dun archway seems to groan.
But what his horror, what his rage,
(His horror great, his rage not less,) Led by Ubaldo's perjured page,
When o'er the bridge throng'd foemen press !
"And now is come the destin'd hour,
And now my solemn vow is clear,
And now not earth's collected pow'r
Shall dare dispute my birthright here.
"But still no dark assassin I,
In sleep to deal the murd'rous wound.
Small time will equal arms supply;
Th' alarum ring, the bugle sound.
"Thy mother's wrongs remember well :
Remember too thy plighted word:
Remember how thy father fell,
And from that father take the sword."
And now the slumb'rers rush to fight;
To fight they rush, nor know the cause;
'Till old Ubaldo's sacred sight
Gives to each side a dreary pause.
But soon as with the adverse host
His Florizel the vet'ran spied,
In many a keen emotion lost,
"And thou, my son!" he feebly cried.
"Not thine, nor of so vile a race;
Not thine," the robber-sire exclaim'd,
Then rais'd the vizor from his face,
Which fiery red with choler flam'd.
Like some aerial shape meanwhile,
Scar'd by th' unwonted din of arms,
Gleaming along the gloomy aisle,
Came Angela's dishevel'd charms.
Th' enamour'd youth at once discern'd
The silent censure of her frown;
Quick from the hostile party turn'd,
And threw his sword indignant down.
Then cried, as down his pallid cheek
Each other the big drops pursu❜d:
"Nature herself shall fail to break
The bonds of love and gratitude."
While thus he spoke, with stedfast stare
The baron mark'd the stranger-foe:
A moment first, entranc'd in pray'r;
The next, his tears began to flow.
"O partner of my early prime!
O deeply on my heart engrav'd!
Forgive, forgive, my father's crime:
It is, it is, thy son I sav'd.
"Sir Hugo, on the bed of death, Stung by remorseful conscience sore, Did but these lands to me bequeath, To hold for thee or thine, in store. "Long have I sought the rightful heir; Long pray'd the pitying pow'rs divine To lift from me that load of care;
But ne'er could hear of thee or thine.
Mysterious heav'n! the gloom is past;
No more I'm torn, no more distrest;
Thy child a waif upon the waste,
That child I cherish'd in my breast.
"And he is valiant, he is good;
Of gentle carriage, generous heart;
Methinks he's mingled with my blood:
No, Aribert; we must not part.
"One only gem on earth I prize,
One gem which sure would deck a throne, Aught else I spurn beneath the skies; Belmont with Angela's thy own."
"And what for me at length remains?"-"Ah! what," rejoin'd the tortur'd sire, "Can blanch a robber's hideous stains? Water nor purifying fire.
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