To daily death; and every several place,
Conscious of her disdain, and my disgrace,
Must witness her just punishment, and be
A scene of triumph and revenge to me.
As in this grove I took my last farewell,
As on this very spot of earth I fell,
As Friday saw me die; so she my prey
Becomes even here, on this revolving day.'
Thus while he spoke, the virgin from the ground Upstarted fresh, already closed the wound; And unconcern'd for all she felt before, Precipitates her flight along the shore:
The hell-hounds, as ungorged with flesh and blood, Pursue their prey, and seek their wonted food : The fiend remounts his courser; mends his pace, And all the vision vanish'd from the place.
Long stood the noble youth oppress'd with awe,
And stupid at the wondrous things he saw, [law.
Surpassing common faith, transgressing nature's
He would have been asleep, and wish'd to wake;
But dreams, he knew, no long impression make,
Though strong at first: if vision, to what end,
But such as must his future state portend?
His love the damsel, and himself the fiend.
But yet, reflecting that it could not be
From Heaven, which cannot impious acts decree,
Resolved within himself to shun the snare
Which hell for his destruction did prepare;
And as his better genius should direct,
From an ill cause to draw a good effect.
Inspired from Heaven, he homeward took his Nor pall'd his new design with long delay: [way, But of his train a trusty servant sent
To call his friends together at his tent.
They came; and usual salutations paid,
With words premeditated, thus he said:
What
you have often counsell'd, to remove
My vain pursuit of unregarded love;
By thrift my sinking fortune to repair,
Though late, yet is at last become my care:
My heart shall be my own; my vast expense
Reduced to bounds, by timely providence :
This only I require; invite for me
Honoria, with her father's family,
Her friends, and mine; the cause I shall display
On Friday next, for that's the' appointed day.'
Well pleased were all his friends; the task was The father, mother, daughter, they invite; [light; Hardly the dame was drawn to this repast; But yet resolved, because it was the last. The day was come; the guests invited came, And, with the rest, the' inexorable dame : A feast prepared with riotous expense, Much cost, more care, and most magnificence. The place ordain'd was in that haunted grove Where the revenging ghost pursued his love: The tables in a proud pavilion spread, With flowers below, and tissue over head: The rest in rank; Honoria, chief in place, Was artfully contrived to set her face To front the thicket, and behold the chase. The feast was served; the time so well forecast, That just when the desert and fruits were placed, The fiend's alarm began; the hollow sound Sung in the leaves, the forest shook around, [ground. Air blacken'd; roll'd the thunder; groan'd the Nor long before the loud laments arise, Of one distress'd and mastiffs' mingled cries:
And first the dame came rushing through the wood,
And next the famish'd hounds that sought their food,
And griped her flanks, and oft essay'd their jaws
in blood.
Last came the felon on his sable steed, [speed.
Arm'd with his naked sword, and urged his dogs to
She ran, and cried; her flight directly bent
(A guest unbidden) to the fatal tent, [ment.
The scene of death, and place ordain'd for punish-
Loud was the noise, aghast was every guest,
The women shriek'd, the men forsook the feast;
The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bay'd;
The hunter close pursued the visionary maid:
She rent the heaven with loud laments, imploring aid.
The gallants, to protect the lady's right,
Their falchions brandish'd at the grisly sprite:
High on his stirrups he provoked the fight.
Then on the crowd he cast a furious look,
And wither'd all their strength before he strook:
Back on your lives! let be,' said he, 'my prey,
And let my vengeance take the destined way.
Vain are your arms, and vainer
your defence,
Against the' eternal doom of Providence:
Mine is the' ungrateful maid by Heaven design'd:
Mercy she would not give, nor mercy shall she find!'
At this the former tale again he told
With thundering tone, and dreadful to behold.
Sunk were their hearts with horror of the crime,
Nor needed to be warn'd a second time,
But bore each other back; some knew the face,
And all had heard the much-lamented case
Of him who fell for love, and this the fatal place.
And now the infernal minister advanced,
Seized the due victim, and with fury lanced
Her back, and piercing through her inmost heart,
Drew backward, as before, the' offending part.
The reeking entrails next he tore away,
And to his meagre mastiffs made a prey:
The pale assistants on each other stared,
With gaping mouths for issuing words prepared;
The still-born sounds upon the palate hung,
And died imperfect on the faltering tongue.
The fright was general; but the female band
(A helpless train) in more confusion stand;
With horror shuddering, on a heap they run,
Sick at the sight of hateful justice done; [their own.
For conscience rung the alarm, and made the case
So, spread upon a lake, with upward eye
A plump of fowl behold their foe on high;
They close their trembling troop, and all attend
On whom the sousing eagle will descend.
But most the proud Honoria fear'd the' event,
And thought to her alone the vision sent.,
Her guilt presents to her distracted mind
Heaven's justice, Theodore's revengeful kind,
And the same fate to the same sin assign'd;
Already sees herself the monster's prey,
And feels her heart and entrails torn away.
'Twas a mute scene of sorrow, mix'd with fear,
Still on the table lay the' unfinish'd cheer;
The knight and hungry mastiffs stood around,
The mangled dame lay breathless on the ground:
When on a sudden, re-inspired with breath,
Again she rose, again to suffer death;
Nor stay'd the hell-hounds, nor the hunter stay'd, But follow'd, as before, the flying maid:
The' avenger took from earth the' avenging sword, And mounting light as air, his sable steed he spurr'd:
The clouds dispell'd, the sky resumed her light, And nature stood recover'd of her fright.
But fear, the last of ills, remain'd behind; And horror heavy sat on every mind. Nor Theodore encouraged more his feast, But sternly look'd, as hatching in his breast Some deep design; which when Honoria view'd, The fresh impulse her former fright renew'd; She thought herself the trembling dame who fled, And him the grisly ghost that spurr'd the' infernal
The more dismay'd, for when the guests withdrew,
Their courteous host saluting all the crew, [adieu!
Regardless pass'd her o'er; nor graced with kind
That sting infix'd within her haughty mind,
The downfall of her empire she divined;
And her proud heart with secret sorrow pined.
Home as they went, the sad discourse renew'd
Of the relentless dame to death pursued,
And of the sight obscene so lately view'd.
None durst arraign the righteous doom she bore,
Even they who pitied most, yet blamed her more:
The parallel they needed not to name,
But in the dead they damn'd the living dame.
At every little noise she look'd behind,
For still the knight was present to her mind:
And anxious oft she started on the way,
And thought the horseman-ghost came thundering
for his prey.
Return'd, she took her bed with little rest,
But in short slumbers dream'd the funeral feast:
Awaked, she turn'd her side, and slept again;
The same black vapours mounted in her brain,
And the same dreams return'd with double pain,
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