1826.] 
( 491 ) 
PIERRE OF STAUFFEN, 
*Twas noon, and ne’er meridian ray 
Was pitiless as on that day ; 
It shot in its resistless light 
Upon the armour of a knight; 
A gallant steed that warrior rode, 
A steed who ne’er had brook’d a goad; 
But now the noble charger’s crest 
Was not so arched, though not deprest ; 
And his gay housings, bright no more, 
With foam and dust were covered o’er: 
The rider’s was no better plight— 
But, like a true and gentle knight, 
It irked him more to see the force 
Diminish of his gen’rous horse; 
And oft he looked, and looked in vain, 
To see the limits of the plain. 
But little hope his glances glean— 
When all at once a dell is seen. 
There may be those who will perchance 
~ Demand, how it escaped his glance ? 
Then will I answer,—too much light 
E’en more than darkness dims our sight ; 
And that day was so passing bright !) ’ 
Again I’d say—oft, far and wide 
We look for objects by our side. 
Or, what methinks explains it well, 
__ It was the work of charm or spell, 
Whate’er it be, a brighter green, 
Or sweeter spot was never seen. 
How welcome to the warrior’s ear 
The rippling sound of waters near ! 
How welcome to his scorched brow, 
The breeze the wave had freshened now ! 
But thick entangled shrubs and flowers 
Forbid his entrance to those bowers ; 
At least, his charger could not pass 
Through all the wild, luxuriant mass : 
Fain must he leave him deeper still, 
To seek that sweetly murm’ring rill. 
And where so well? “ There graze and rest, 
Oh! thou, of all thy race the best!" ° ~ 
He said ; and loosely then he tied 
The courser to the thicket’s side. 
The fount was in the loveliest spot ! 
The warrior marked its beauty not, 
For on its margin sate a maid 
In more than earthly charms array’d. 
Her tunic’s tissue seemed of spray, 
Reflecting every sunny ray: 
A branch of coral in her hand 
She held, as ’twere a magic wand ; 
That coral was of paler hue 
Than her bright lips, her eyes more blue 
Than heav’n’s own azure, and their light 
Was soft as eve, as morning bright ! 
+ Jagd 
L 
