Thee, when a boy, within my arms I laid,
When, for my sins, I loved this haughty maid;
Not less adored in life, nor served by me,
Than proud Honoria now is loved by thee.
What did I not her stubborn heart to gain ?
But all my vows were answer'd with disdain;
She scorn'd my sorrows, and despised my pain.
Long time I dragg'd my days in fruitless care;
Then loathing life, and plunged in deep despair,
To finish my unhappy life, I fell
On this sharp sword, and now am damn'd in hell.
Short was her joy; for soon the insulting maid,
By Heaven's decree, in the cold grave was laid;
And as in unrepented sin she died,
Doom'd to the same bad place, is punish'd for her pride;
Because she deem'd I well deserved to die,
And made a merit of her cruelty.
There, then, we met; both tried, and both were cast,
And this irrevocable sentence pass'd :
That she whom I so long pursued in vain
Should suffer from my hands a lingering pain
Renew'd to life, that she might daily die,
I daily doom'd to follow, she to fly.
No more a lover, but a mortal foe,
I seek her life (for love is none below).
As often as my dogs with better speed
Arrest her flight, is she to death decreed;
Then with this fatal sword, on which I died,
I pierce her open'd back or tender side,
And tear that harden'd heart from out her breast, Which, with her entrails, makes my hungry hounds a feast.
Nor lies she long, but, as her fates ordain,
Springs up to life, and fresh to second pain;
Is saved to-day, to-morrow to be slain.'
This, versed in death, the infernal knight relates, And then, for proof, fulfill'd their common fates; Her heart and bowels through her back he drew, And fed the hounds that help'd him to pursue. Stern look'd the fiend, as frustrate of his will, Not half sufficed, and greedy yet to kill. And now the soul, expiring through the wound, Had left the body breathless on the ground, When thus the grisly spectre spoke again : 'Behold the fruit of ill-rewarded pain! As many months as I sustain'd her hate, So many years is she condemn'd by fate To daily death; and every several place, Conscious of her disdain and my disgrace, Must witness her just punishment, and be A scene of triumph and revenge to me. As in this grove I took my last farewell, As on this very spot of earth I fell, As Friday saw me die, so she my prey Becomes ev'n here on this revolving day.'
Thus, while he spoke, the virgin from the ground
Upstarted fresh, already closed the wound;
And, unconcern'd for all she felt before,
Precipitates her flight along the shore:
The hell-hounds, as ungorged with flesh and blood,
Pursue their prey, and seek their wonted food:
The fiend remounts his courser,
mends his pace,
And all the vision vanish'd from the place.
Long stood the noble youth oppress'd with awe, And stupid at the wondrous things he saw, [law. Surpassing common faith, transgressing nature's
He would have been asleep, and wish'd to wake;
But dreams, he knew, no long impression make,
Though strong at first: if vision, to what end,
But such as must his future state portend?
His love the damsel, and himself the fieud.
But yet, reflecting that it could not be
From Heaven, which cannot impious acts decree,
Resolved within himself to shun the snare
Which hell for his destruction did prepare;
And as his better genius should direct,
From an ill cause to draw a good effect.
Inspired from Heaven, he homeward took his way,
Nor pall'd his new design with long delay :
But of his train a trusty servant sent
To call his friends together at his tent.
They came; and usual salutations paid,
With words premeditated, thus he said:
What you have often counsell❜d, to remove
My vain pursuit of unregarded love;
By thrift my sinking fortune to repair,
Though late, yet is at last become my care:
My heart shall be my own; my vast expense
Reduced to bounds by timely providence :
This only I require; invite for me
Honoria, with her father's family,
Her friends, and mine; the cause I shall display On Friday next, for that's the appointed day.' Well pleased were all his friends; the task was
The father, mother, daughter, they invite.
Hardly the dame was drawn to this repast;
But yet resolved, because it was the last.
The day was come; the guests invited came,
And, with the rest, the inexorable dame :
A feast prepared with riotous expense,
Much cost, more care, and most magnificence.
The place ordain'd was in that haunted grove
Where the revenging ghost pursued his love:
The tables in a proud pavilion spread,
With flowers below, and tissue over head :
The rest in rank; Honoria, chief in place,
Was artfully contrived to set her face
To front the thicket, and behold the chase.
The feast was served; the time so well forecast, That, just when the dessert and fruits were placed, The fiend's alarm began; the hollow sound
Sung in the leaves, the forest shook around, Air blacken'd; roll'd the thunder; groan'd the ground.
Nor long before the loud laments arise
Of one distress'd, and mastiffs' mingled cries:
And first the dame came rushing through the wood,
And next the famish'd hounds that sought their
[in blood.
And griped her flanks, and oft essay'd their jaws
Last came the felon on the sable steed,
Arm'd with his naked sword, and urged his dogs
to speed.
She ran, and cried; her flight directly bent
(A guest unbidden) to the fatal tent,
The scene of death, and place ordain'd for punish
Loud was the noise, aghast was every guest,
The women shriek'd, the men forsook the feast;
The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bay'd;
The hunter close pursued the visionary maid:
She rent the heaven with loud laments, imploring
aid.
The gallants, to protect the lady's right, Their falchions brandish'd at the grisly sprite : High on his stirrups he provoked the fight; Then on the crowd he cast a furious look, And wither'd all their strength before he strook : Back, on your lives! let be,' said he, my prey, And let my vengeance take the destined way. Vain are your arms, and vainer your defence, Against the eternal doom of Providence : Mine is the ungrateful maid by Heaven design'd: Mercy she would not give, nor mercy shall she find!' At this the former tale again he told,
With thundering tone, and dreadful to behold.
Sunk were their hearts with horror of the crime,
Nor needed to be warn'd a second time,
But bore each other back: some knew the face,
And all had heard the much-lamented case
Of him who fell for love, and this the fatal place.
And now the infernal minister advanced,
Seized the due victim, and with fury lanced
Her back, and, piercing through her inmost heart,
Drew backward, as before, the offending part.
The reeking entrails next he tore away,
And to his meagre mastiffs made a prey:
The pale assistants on each other stared,
With gaping mouths for issuing words prepared;
The still-born sounds upon the palate hung,
And died imperfect on the faltering tongue.
The fright was general; but the female band
(A helpless train) in more confusion stand;
With horror shuddering, on a heap they run,
Sick at the sight of hateful justice done;
For conscience rung the alarm, and made the case
their own.
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