ADVERTISEMENT. THE following poem is grounded on a circumstance mentioned in Gibbon's " Antiquities of the House of Brunswick." I am aware that in modern times the delicacy or fastidiousness of the reader may deem such subjects unfit for the purposes of poetry. The Greek dramatists, and some of the best of our old English writers, were of a different opinion: as Alfieri and Schiller have also been, more recently, upon the Continent. The following extract will explain the facts on which the story is founded. The name of Azo is substituted for Nicholas, as more metrical. "Under the reign of Nicholas III. Ferrara was polluted with a domestic tragedy. By the testimony of an attendant, and his own observation, the Marquis of Este discovered the incestuous loves of his wife Parisina and Hugo his bastard son, a beautiful and valiant youth. They were beheaded in the castle by the sentence of a father and husband, who published his shame, and survived their execution. He was unfortunate, if they were guilty : if they were innocent, he was still more unfortunate; nor is there any possible situation in which I can sincerely approve the last act of the justice of a parent."-GIBBON'S Miscellaneous Works, vol. iii p. 470. PARISINA. I. Ir is the hour when from the boughs Seem sweet in every whisper'd word : Each flower the dews have lightly wet, And in the heaven that clear obscure, Which follows the decline of day, As twilight melts beneath the moon away. II. But it is not to list to the waterfall That Parisina leaves her hall, And it is not to gaze on the heavenly light "Tis not for the sake of its full-blown flower- There glides a step through the foliage thick, And her cheek grows pale--and her heart beats quick. There whispers a voice through the rustling leaves, And her blush returns, and her bosom heaves; A moment more-and they shall meet 'Tis past her lover's at her feet. And what unto them is the world beside, The lines contained in this section were printed as set to music some time since, but belonged to the poem where they now appear; the greater part of which was composed prior to Larn."-B. And heedless as the dead are they They only for each other breathe So deep, that did it not decay, In that tumultuous tender dream? Alas! we must awake before We know such vision comes no more. IV. With many a lingering look they leave The frequent sigh-the long embrace- While gleams on Parisina's face The Heaven she fears will not forgive her, The frequent sigh, the long embrace, V. And Hugo is gone to his lonely bed, A name she dare not breathe by day, And he to that embrace awakes, And, happy in the thought, mistakes And could in very fondness weep VI. He clasp'd her sleeping to his heart, He hears-Why doth Prince Azo start, And well he may-his earthly peace VII. He pluck'd his poniard in its sheath, He could not slay a thing so fair- Nay more he did not wake her then, But gazed upon her with a glance Which, had she roused her from her trance, Had frozen her sense to sleep again And o'er his brow the burning lamp Gleam'd on the dew-drops big and damp. She spake no more-but still she slumber'd- While, in his thought, her days are number'd. VIII. And with the morn he sought, and found, In many a tale from those around, To save themselves, and would transfer IX. He was not one who brook'd delay: The chief of Este's ancient sway Both young, and one how passing fair! X. And still, and pale, and silently How changed since last her speaking eye Her gentle voice-her lovely mien- Then, had her eye in sorrow wept, With downcast eyes and knitting brow And folded arms, and freezing air, And lips that scarce their scorn forbear, Her knights and dames, her court-is there : And he, the chosen one, whose lance Had yet been couch'd before her glance, Who were his arm a moment free Had died or gain'd her liberty; The minion of his father's bride,-- XI. And he for her had also wept, But for the eyes that on him gazed |