Narrative poems on the Female Character in the various relations of life. By Mary Russell Mitford ... Vol. I |
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| IV. |
| I. |
| II. |
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| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
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| XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXII. |
| XXIII. |
| XXIV. |
| XXV. |
| XXVI. |
| XXVII. |
| XXVIII. |
| XXIX. |
| XXX. |
| XXXI. |
| XXXII. | XXXII. |
| XXXIII. |
| XXXIV. |
| XXXV. |
| XXXVI. |
| XXXVII. |
| XXXVIII. |
| XXXIX. |
| XL. |
| XLI. |
| XLII. |
| XLIII. |
| XLIV. |
| XLV. |
| XLVI. |
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 | Narrative poems on the Female Character |  |
240
XXXII.
Again the heralds loud proclaim,“If comes no champion for the dame,
From this brave knight to wrest the prize,
At the third bugle blast she dies!”
The second blast has ceas'd to sing,
And dreadful is the pause;
All eyes are fix'd upon the king,
And on the combat's mournful cause:
She sate, wrapt in her sable veil;
None could descry the visage pale,
None see the wild despairing eyes;
But all could read, as in a book,
The feelings that her bosom shook,
Guessing by thrill and start her look,
And by her long convulsive sighs.
241
Found, in their gushing tears, relief.
But who, Alfonzo, who shall tell
The feelings in thy heart that swell!
Doubt, fear, mistrust, and jealousy!
And love abhorring her deceit,
Yet mourning the delusion sweet;
Wishing his sentence rash, retriev'd,
Longing again to be deceiv'd
By that fair seeming purity.
| Narrative poems on the Female Character | |