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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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XXXII.

By the north pillars of the nave,
Four dedicated altars stood;
Each bore a victim for the grave,
And now was stained with noble blood:
They faced those arches, sharp and tall,
Where Offa and his beauteous queen,
And Edward of the saintly mien,

343

And mitred Lanfranc still are seen,
Bending from carved capital,
As watching o'er this mortal scene.
Now, listen; for 'tis fearful all—
All, that beneath Fitzharding's eye
Lay, as he watched in gallery.
He saw monks to this spot draw nigh,
And o'er a pallid figure bend,
And search again, if living breath
Might linger in such shape of death;
Then, silently, the limbs extend;
And—by the glare the torches threw
On the gashed face beneath his view,
Upon St. Scytha's altar laid—
Saw them the countenance compose,
O'er the glazed eye the eye-lid close
For ever—ever! in Death's shade!
And, while he marked that awful sight,
It seemed, by thrill of sympathy,
As if cold fingers did alight
Upon his lids, and on them lie.
A horror ran through all his frame;
But this more painful pang o'ercame—

344

It seemed to him, that his sight now,
While resting on the form below,
Might view his father laid in death!
With frenzied gaze he sought to know
More certainly the face beneath—
In vain! The torch's wavering glare
To gallery high, through depth of air,
Showed but a wan, dead visage there.