And doth a roof above me close?
Do these limbs on a couch repose?
Is this a chamber where I lie?
And is it mortal yon bright eye,
That watches me with gentle glance?

I closed my own again once more,
As doubtful that the former trance
Could not as yet be o'er.

A slender girl, long-hair'd and tall,
Sate watching by the cottage-wall;
The sparkle of her eye I caught,
E'en with my first return of thought;
For ever and anon she threw

A prying, pitying glance on me
With her black eyes so wild and free:
I gazed, and gazed, until I knew

No vision it could be,

But that I lived, and was released
From adding to the vulture's feast:
And when the Cossack maid beheld
My heavy eyes at length unseal'd,
She smiled and I essay'd to speak,

But fail'd—and she approach'd, and made
With lip and finger signs that said,

I must not strive as yet to break
The silence, till my strength should be
Enough to leave my accents free;
And then her hand on mine she laid,
And smooth'd the pillow for my

And stole along on tiptoe tread,

head,

And gently oped the door, and spake In whispers-ne'er was voice so sweet!

Even music follow'd her light feet;

But those she call'd were not awake, And she went forth; but, ere she pass'd, Another look on me she cast,

Another sign she made, to say,
That I had nought to fear, that all
Were near, at my coinmand or call,
And she would not delay

Her due return:-while she was gone,
Methought I felt too much alone.

XX.

« She came with mother and with sire-
What need of more?-I will not tire
With long recital of the rest,

Since I became the Cossacks' guest:
They found me senseless on the plain-
They bore me to the nearest hut-
They brought me into life again—
Me-one day o'er their realm to reign!
Thus the vain fool who strove to glut
His rage, refining on my pain,

Sent me forth to the wilderness,

Bound, naked, bleeding, and alone, the desert to a throne,

Το

pass

What mortal his own doom may guess?Let none despond, let none despair!

To-morrow the Borysthenes

May see our coursers graze at ease
Upon his Turkish bank,-and never
Had I such welcome for a river

As I shall yield when safely there.

Comrades, good night!»-The hetman threw His length beneath the oak-tree shade,

With leafy couch already made,

A bed nor comfortless nor new
To him, who took his rest whene'er
The hour arrived, no matter where:-

His eyes the hastening slumbers steep.
And if ye marvel Charles forgot
To thank his tale, he wonder'd not,-

The king had been an hour asleep.

NOTE TO MAZEPPA.

Note 1, page 408, line 21.

Rich as a salt or silver mine, etc.

This comparison of a « salt mine» may perhaps be permitted to a Pole, as the wealth of the country consists greatly in the salt mines.

VOL. VI.

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