Who art thou, and wherefore sent So near a hostile armament?" The maid who might have been his bride! Floating darkly downward there, Her rounded arm showed white and bare: And, ere yet she made reply, Once she raised her hand on high; It was so wan, and transparent of hue, I come from my rest to him I love best, From a maid in the pride of her purity; And the Power on high, that can shield the good Thus from the tyrant of the wood, Hath extended its mercy to guard me as well From the hands of the leaguering infidel. I come and, if I come in vain, Never, oh never, we meet again!. Thou hast done a fearful deed In falling away from thy father's creed: And where should our bridal couch be spread? In the midst of the dying and the dead? For to-morrow we give to the slaughter and flame Shall be left upon the morn: But thee will I bear to a lovely spot, Where our hands shall be joined, and our sorrow forgot. There thou yet shalt be my bride, When once again I've quelled the pride Of Venice; and her hated race Upon his hand she laid her own Light was the touch, but it thrilled to the bone, Which fixed him beyond the power to start. Strike on the pulse with such feeling of fear, Froze through his blood by their touch that night. And his heart sank so still that it felt like stone As he looked on the face, and beheld its hue So deeply changed from what he knew: Fair, but faint-without the ray Of mind, that made each feature play And there rose not a heave o'er her bosom's swell, So seen by the dying lamp's fitful light, As they seem, through the dimness, about to come down From the shadowy wall where their images frown; Fearfully flitting to and fro, As the gusts on the tapestry come and go. If not for love of me be given Thus much, then, for the love of heaven- From off thy faithless brow, and swear A heavy doom 'tis thine to meet, That doom shall half absolve thy sin, Alp looked to heaven, and saw on high The sign she spake of in the sky; But his heart was swollen, and turned aside, This first false passion of his breast He sue for mercy! He dismayed He, wronged by Venice, vow to save No-though that cloud were thunder's worst, And charged to crush him-let it burst! He looked upon it earnestly, Without an accent of reply: He watched it passing; it is flown: Nothing is there but the column stone Hath she sunk in the earth, or melted in air? Ile saw not, he knew not; but nothing is there. There is a quietness and solemnity about this scer e which is admirably suited to a ghost story. The assault of the next morning is as successful as it is vigorous The Governor, Minotti, makes a desperate resistance: There stood an old man-his hairs were white, But his veteran arm was full of might: So gallantly bore he the brunt of the fray, The dead before him, on that day, In a semicircle lay; Still he combated unwounded, Though retreating, unsurrounded: Many a scar of former fight Lurked beneath his corslet bright, |