The bridal of Vaumond :: :: University of Virginia Library

“Stand forth;”—he said, and from the train
A stranger stept upon the plain;
He strode the lists with stately pace,
Veil'd was his form and hid his face;
But his dark robe afar he threw,
And his mail'd form reveal'd to view;—
His vizor up, beneath his crest,
The warrior's features were confest.—
As from their long eclipse they rise,
Ran a quick murmur of surprise
Around the lists from chieftains proud,
And spread amid th' admiring crowd.
—Bright as the lurid whizzing streak
That riots in its path,
As if in vengeance it would speak
The joyaunce of its wrath—
So Vaumond's glance his foeman eyed,
Yielding again to cloudless pride.—

“Mine honour blasted in its shoot,
The axe laid to my house's root,
Forgotten in the soldier's care—
Forgotten in my lady's prayer.—
Now, from my fame's deep bed I come,
Dark caitiff, to announce thy doom!

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Outlaw'd of heaven, by fiends carest,
An adder in thy country's breast;—
So may my soul acceptance gain
When time's dark verge my feet have trod,
Or anguish'd plead—and plead in vain
Before the awful throne of GOD—
As here thy falsehood I maintain;
Here cleanse my honour with thy blood!”—