VII.

Three times her palms resounded,

And at once she stood surrounded By noble brothers rushing in

From every native field:

Their forms were rough and tawny,

But their limbs were lithe and brawny,

And, instead of taking captors there,
The captors now must yield.

VIII.

And, against their own consenting,
She sent them back repenting.
The mad king cropt their coward ears
To satisfy his wrath:

And still that noble maiden,
With all her beauty laden,
Went singing on her happy way,
With honor in her path.

Scarce had the last word left her tongue,
And while the chord still trembling hung
From which the bird-like note had sprung,

There rose a tumult wild without," (11)
A hurried rush of loud alarms,

The flash of flames, the sentinel's shout,

With startled drums that beat to arms. The shuddering guests no more could doubt, But quaked to think the rebel crew Had burst in all their midnight power Upon them, in their revel hour,

To act the Trenton scene anew.

What meant that glow whose fearful shine

Illumined the abatis-line,

Which fired the scene, as if to light
The horrors of the coming fight?

Now could they hear the mounted troop
Like hungry vultures round them swoop,
And see the clattering hoofs of steel
Where lightning flashed from every heel.

Out rushed the guardian ranks aflame,
To put the intruding crew to shame;
But, strange to tell, without a blow,

То

say that there had been the foe, The troopers fled, and left behind

Their mocking laughter on the wind.

The guards pursued them past the town,
By the same road which brought them down,
And soon the sentinels descried

The line returning, flushed with pride.

Then laughter filled the hall again,

While pleasure took the place of pain,

And every happy face was lit

With this fresh source of mirth and wit,
And music spread its circling wing

To lead the dance in ampler swing.

But what was wrong? What ailed Sir Hugh?
Why sought he thus the assembly through?
What were the questions he would pour
At every outward-leading door?

At last he stood, with sigh long drawn,—
Both Ugo and the maid were gone.

One said that while the guardian troop
Had gone to beat the rebels back,
He saw descend a hasty group

Across the lawn, and some were black,—

A part of that same turbaned horde

Who tended while the wine was poured,―

And that they moved towards a bark:

To shield them, then, the white moon bowed Behind a heavy wall of cloud :

He saw no more, for all was dark.

IV.

THE BROTHERS.

WHAT light illumes the eagle's ken,

And flames his breast with Freedom's rage,

The first wild daring instant when
He soars beyond his broken cage!

How glows the lion's eye of fire,
Brighter than lit with midnight ire,
The moment when he sees the bar
Half drawn that leaves the door ajar!
How proudly he exalts his mane
That first hour on the open plain !

When from the winter's captive hold

The young spring takes the freedom won,