ALICE DU CLOS: OR THE FORKED TONGUE. A BALLAD. "One word with two meanings is the traitor's shield and shaft: and a slit tongue be his blazon !" Caucasian Proverb. "THE Sun is not yet risen, But the dawn lies red on the dew: Lord Julian has stolen from the hunters away, Is seeking, Lady, for you. Put on your dress of green, Your buskins and your quiver; Lord Julian is a hasty man, Long waiting brook'd he never. I dare not doubt him, that he means Your lord and master for to be, O Lády! throw your book aside! I would not that my Lord should chide." Thus spake Sir Hugh the vassal knight To Alice, child of old Du Clos, As spotless fair, as airy light As that moonshiny doe, The gold star on its brow, her sire's ancestral crest! She in the garden bower below The studious maid, with book on knee, Ah! earliest-opened flower; While yet with keen unblunted light The morning star shone opposite The lattice of her bower Alone of all the starry host, Of flight and fear he stay'd behind, O Alice could read passing well, And gods, and beasts, and men. The vassal's speech, his taunting vein, She rais'd her head, nor did she deign "Off, traitor friend! how dar'st thou fix Thy wanton gaze on me? And why, against my earnest suit,' Does Julian send by thee? Go, tell thy Lord, that slow is sure: Fair speed his shafts to-day! I follow here a stronger lure, Like a huge billow from a bark Toil'd in the deep sea-trough, That shouldering sideways in mid plunge, And staggering onward, leaves the ear And Alice sate with troubled mien There stands the flow'ring may-thorn tree! From thro' the veiling mist you see The black and shadowy stem ;Smit by the sun the mist in glee Dissolves to lightsome jewelryEach blossom hath its gem!. With tear-drop glittering to a smile, "Hip! Florian, hip! To horse, to horse! Go, bring the palfrey out. "My Julian's out with all his clan, And, bonny boy, you wis, For Julian is a hasty man, Who comes late, comes amiss." Now Florian was a stripling squire, That tossed his head in joy and pride, But blushed to hold her train. The huntress is in her dress of green- And had not Ellen stay'd the race, It chanced that up the covert lane, A neighbor knight pricked on to join And with him must Lord Julian go, In vain he sought, 'twixt shame and pride, He bit his lip, he wrung his glove, But pretext none could find or frame ! It grieves me sore to think, to say, Yet Love wants courage without a name! Straight from the forest's skirt the trees From underneath its leafy screen, And from the twilight shade, You pass at once into a green, A green and lightsome glade. And there Lord Julian sate on steed; Behind him, in a round, Stood knight and squire, and menial train; When up the alley green, Sir Hugh Lord Julian turn'd his steed half round. What! doth not Alice deign To accept your loving convoy, knight? With stifled tones the knight replied, Nay, let the hunt proceed! The Lady's message that I bear, I guess would scantly please your ear, "You sent betiines. Not yet unbarr'd Two stirrers only met my eyes, "I came unlook'd for: and, it seemed, And found the daughter of Du Clos "But hush the rest may wait. If lost, No great loss, I divine; And idle words will better suit A fair maid's lips than mine.". "God's wrath! speak out, man," Julian cried, O'ermaster'd by the sudden smart ;And feigning wrath, sharp, blunt, and rude, The knight his subtle shift pursued. "Scowl not at me; command my skill, To lure your hawk back, if you will, But not a woman's heart. "'Go! (said she) tell him,-slow is sure; Fair speed his shafts to-day! I follow here a stronger lure, And chase a gentler prey.' "The game, pardie, was full in sight, That then did, if I saw aright, The fair dame's eyes engage; For turning, as I took my ways, |