"Wert thou the while companion of my tent, "That one tho' powerful is benevolent? "In truth thou well mayest wonder!" Conrade cried. "But little cause to love the mighty ones "Has the low cottager! for with its shade "Does POWER, a barren death-dew-dropping tree, "Blast ev'ry herb beneath its baleful boughs! "How warr'd the chieftains, and the people died. Gazing on the martial Maid She read her wish and spake. "A wanderer now "Friendless and hopeless, still I love to think "Upon my pleasant home, and call to mind "Each haunt of careless youth; the woodbin'd wall, "The jessamine that round the straw-roof'd cot "Its fragrant branches wreath'd, beneath whose shade "I wont to sit and watch the setting sun "And hear the redbreast's lay. Nor far remote "As o'er the subject landskip round I gazed, "The towers of Jenville rose upon the view. "A foreign master holds my father's home! I, far away, remember the past years, "And weep. "Two brethren form'd our family; "Humble we were, and happy. Honest toil "Procur'd our homely sustenance; our herds "Gave their full stores; the vineyard he had rear'd " Purpled its clusters in the southern sun, “And, plenteous produce of my father's toil, "The yellow harvest billowed o'er the plain. "How chearful seated round the blazing hearth "When all the labour of the day was done, "We past the evening hours! for they would sing "Or chearful roundelay, or ditty sad "Of maid forsaken and the willow weed, "Or of the doughty Paladins of France, "Some warlike fit, the while my spinning wheel "Humm'd not unpleasing round!" "Thus long we lived, "And happy. To a neighbouring youth my hand "In holy wedlock soon to be combin'd "Was plighted: my poor Francis!" Here she paus'd, And here she wept awhile. "We did not dream "The desolating sword of War would stoop *"To succeed in the siege of Orleans, the English first secured the neighbouring places, which might otherwise have annoyed the besiegers. The months of August and September were spent in this work. During that space they took Mehun, "The banner'd Leopard waved on Gergeau's wall; "Baugenci yielded; soon the foe approach'd "The towers of Jenville." "Fatal was the hour "To wretched Isabel: for from the wall "The rusty sword was taken, and the shield "The clattering hammer's clank, the grating file "My father stood encircling his old limbs. "In long forgotten arms. "I did not think that this "Come boys," he cried, grey head again "Should bear the helmet's weight! but in the field Baugenci, Gergeau, Clery, Sully, Jenville, and some other small towns, and at last appeared before Orleans on the 12th of October." Rapin. "Better to boldly die a soldier's death, "Than here be tamely butcher'd. Thou my child, "Go to the Abbey: here is gold to buy "The safe protection of the holy church. "Fare thee well Isabel! if we survive "And conquer, we shall meet again: if not, There is a better world !" "In broken words 66 Lifting his looks to Heaven, my father breath'd His blessing on me. As they strode away, My brethren gazed on me and prest my hand "In silence, for they lov'd their Isabel. "From the near cottage Francis join'd the troop. "Then did I look on our forsaken home, "And almost sob my very soul away! "For all my hopes of happiness were fled, Like a vain dream!" "Perish these mighty ones," "Cried Conrade, "these prime ministers of death, "Who stalk elated o'er their fields of fame, |