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BALLADS.

No. I.

SIR HAROLD.

A DAY of strife hath fled;

The azure mantle of Twilight falls;

The field is strew'd with dead;

But the cross is planted on Salem's walls!
In vain the Sultan cried,

'Mid the boiling fight, for the Prophet's aid; And on, with swords allied,

Rush'd the hosts of the Christian undismay'd!

He laid him down to die,

At the foot of an aloes, a wounded knight,
Beneath the chilly sky,

And the fading traces of western light :

With desolating force,

The night-wind moan'd 'mid the forest gloom :
And, in its sweeping course,
Uplifted the depth of his raven plume.

In garb of green, a page,
Alone, o'er his dying master hung,
His anguish to assuage,

And cool the thirst of his burning tongue;
The frequent falling tear

He dash'd in vain from his eyes of blue;
As the knight, he loved so dear,
His painful breathing aye shorter drew!

Said the knight, "When war is done, And to Europe our vessels retrace the sea, Then bear this pledge to one

The only one that may weep for me!

Oh! tell, that, as I sigh'd,

This broken pledge to my heart was press'd; Oh! tell, that ere I died,

I hung o'er her magic name, and bless'd!"

"Pardon," exclaim'd the page

"If love will pardon to love allow ;
Ella of Hermitage

Forsook her kin, to be with thee now !"-
He turns his dying eyes,

Sir Harold, and gazes on that sweet face ;—
To speak in vain he tries,

Then sank like lead in a last embrace !

She press'd her cheek to his, To his as cold as the marble stone ;

And with one long, long kiss,

Her heart had broke-her spirit was flown!

In the shade of the aloes tree,

In death united, the lovers lay;

And many a tear fell free,

O'er their graves, at the dawn of day;

And brightly o'er the tomb, Where, side by side, these lovers repose,

Commingling their perfume,

A rose of England and Sharon grows;

And, on the boughs above,

When fades in the west the parting light, The dirge of faithful love

A bulbul hymns to the ear of Night.

No. II.

ADELINE.

THE night was dark, the thunder roll'd,
In torrents the rain was pouring;
The lightning flash'd-'twas to unfold
The breast of the wild sea roaring :-
Then, from the tower, gazed Adeline
On the tempest's wild commotion,
And dim blue lights were seen to shine
Afar on the foaming ocean!

Alas! she sigh'd, that one so dear,

Should toss on the faithless billow,

While thousands, void of doubt and fear, Repose on the downy pillow;

S

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