Gaston de Blondeville, or The court of Henry III Keeping festival in Ardenne, a romance. St. Alban's Abbey, a metrical tale; With some poetical pieces. By Anne Radcliffe ... To which is prefixed: A memoir of the author, with extracts from her journals. In four volumes |
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 | Gaston de Blondeville, or The court of Henry III |  |
XIII.
His step called forth that voice unknown;It muttered in sepulchral tone,
“Beware! the earth is heaped around;
The graves are opened on this ground!”
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And the low-lying torch it reared,
Showing a face to him unknown;
It reared the torch, and showed it's own.
A form so tall, so spare and gaunt
Might have been drawn to image Want;
And well the ghastly face supplied
The look of one for food had died:
So livid, pale, so grim, so shrunk,
The visage of this charnel-monk!
Ardent and haggard were his eyes,
And full of evil dark surmise;
Yet gleamed, at whiles, all fiery red,
Just where the cowl its darkness shed.
His figure, draped in weed of woe,
Did a bossed symbol grimly show,
Bones and an eyeless head.
This shape of terror, with no name,
(While on their wormy verge he stood)
As home and empire seemed to claim
The graves, o'er porch and chapel strewed.
| Gaston de Blondeville, or The court of Henry III | |