"Of Ruin. These preventive care destroys, "Lest England, shelter'd by the friendly walls, "Securely should approach. The monasteries "Fell in the general waste. The holy Monks "Unwillingly their long-accustomed haunts "Abandon, haunts where every gloomy nook "Call'd to awakened memory some trace "Of vision seen, or sound miraculous. "Trembling and terrified, their noiseless cells "For the rude uproar of a world unknown, "The nuns desert: their Abbess, more composed, "Collects her maids around, and tells her beads, "And pours the timid prayer of piety.

"The citizens with strong and ceaseless stroke

* « They pulled down all the most considerable building's in the suburbs, and among the rest twelve churches and several monasteries; that the English might not make use of them in carrying on the siege."

Rapin. Monstrellet.

"Dug up the violated earth, to impede "The foe: the hollow chambers of the dead "Echoed beneath. The brazen-trophied tomb "Thrown in the furnace, now prepares to give "The death it late recorded. It was sad

"To see so wide a waste; the aged ones

Hanging their heads, and weeping as they went "O'er the fall'n dwellings of their happier years; "The stern and sullen silence of the men

Musing on vengeance: and, but ill represt, "The mother's fears as to her breast she clasp'd "Her ill-doom'd infant. Soon the suburbs lay "One ample ruin; the huge stones remov'd,

Wait in the town to rain the storm of death.

"And now without the walls the desolate plain Stretch'd wide, a rough and melancholy waste, "With uptorn pavements and foundations deep "Of many a ruined dwelling: nor within

Less dreary was the scene; at evening hour

"No more the

merry

* viol's note was heard,

"No more the aged matron at her door

"Humm'd cheery to her spinning wheel, and mark'd "Her children dancing to the roundelay.

"The chieftains strengthening still the massy walls, "Survey them with the prying eye of fear. "The eager youth in dreadful preparation "Strive in the mimic war. Silent and stern, "With the hurrying restlessness of fear, they urge "Their gloomy labours. In the city dwelt

*The instrument which most frequently served for an accompaniment to the harp, and which disputed the preeminence with it in the early times of music in France, was the Viol; and indeed, when reduced to four strings, and stript with the frets with which viols of all kinds seem to have been furnished till the 16th century, it still holds the first place among treble instruments under the denomination of violin.

The Viol played with a bow, and wholly different from the Vielle, whose tones are produced by the friction of a wheel which indeed performs the part of a bow, was very early in favour with the inhabitants of France.

Burney's History of Music.

"A most dead silence of all pleasant sounds,

"But all day long the armourers beat was heard,

"And all the night it echoed.

"Soon the foc

"Led to our walls the siege as on they move

"The clarions clangor, and the chearful fife,

According to the thundering drum's deep sound, 'Direct their measur'd march. Before the ranks

"Stalks the stern form of Salisbury, the scourge

"Of France; and Talbot towered by his side,

Talbot, at whose dread name the froward child

Clings mute and trembling to his nurse's breast.

"Suffolk was there, and Hungerford, and Scales, "And Fastolffe, victor in the frequent fight.

"Dark as the autumnal storm they roll'd along,

"A countless host! From the high tower I mark'd

"The dreadful scene; I saw the iron blaze

Of javelins sparkling to the noontide sun,

"Their banners tossing to the troubled gale,

And-fearful music-heard upon the wind

"The modulated step of multitudes.

"There in the midst, shuddering with fear, I saw "The dreadful stores of death; tremendous roll'd "Over rough roads the harsh wheels; the brazen tubes Flash'd in the sun their fearful splendor far, And last the loaded waggons creak'd along.

" Nor were our chieftains whilst their care procur'd "Human defence, neglectful to implore

"That heavenly aid, deprived of which the strength. "Of man is weakness. Bearing thro' our streets "The precious relics of the holy dead,

"The Monks and Nuns pour'd many an earnest prayer "Devoutly join'd by all. Saint Aignan's shrine "Was throng'd by supplicants, the general voice "Call'd on Saint * Aignan's name again to save

* St. Aignan was the tutelary Saint of Orleans. He had miraculously been chosen Bishop of that City when Attila besieged it. "Comme les citoyens effrayez eurent recours a leur prelat, luy, sans se soucier, pour le salut de siens, sortit