Ballad. 195 



In all the house was heard no human sound; 

 A chain- dropp'd lamp was flickering by each door, 

 The arras rich with horsemen, hawk, and hound, 

 Flutter' d in the besieging wind's uproar, 

 And the long carpets rose along the gusty floor ! 



" They glide, like phantoms? into the wide hall, 

 Like phantoms to the iron porch they glide, 

 Where lay the porter in uneasy sprawl, 

 With a huge empty flagon by his side ; 

 The wakeful blood-hound rose and shook his hide, 

 But his sagacious eye an inmate owns, 

 By one and one the bolts full easy slide ; 

 The chains lie silent on the footworn stones, 

 The key turns, and the door upon its hinges groans. 



"And they are gone; aye, ages long ago, 



Those lovers fled away into the storm. 



That night the baron dreamt of many a woe, 



And all his warrior-guests, with shade and form 



Of witch and demon, and large coffin worm, 



Were long be-night-mared. Angela the old 



Died palsy-twitch'd with meagre face deform ; 



The beadsman, after thousand Aves told 

 For age unsought-for, slept among his ashes cold!" 



BALLAD. 



A simple-hearted village maid, 

 I love* the sunny heath and glade ; 

 Nor would I change my happy state 

 To be a lady gay or great. 



I love my own sweet cottage home, 

 With fond companions there to roam. 

 Oh ! let me in contentment dwell 

 Down in my quiet native dell. 



A happy and a harmless child, 

 I sought the woodland and the wild; 

 And still, fair Innocence, with thee 

 A village maiden let me be, 



With smiling health ; nor will I part 

 With joys that live within my heart ! 

 No, not for wealth nor vanity, 

 Fair Nature, will I turn from thee. 



Let others choose a city life, 

 The mazy path of care and strife ; 

 I would not change my humble state 

 To be a lady gay or great. 



December 27, 1836. E. L. E. 



O 2 



