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The hand of the reaper, 



Cuts the ears that are hoary : 

 But the voice of the weeper, 



Wails manhood in glory. SCOTT. 



It is the middle of corn harvest, and reapers are 

 cutting down the rich brown ears, on the verge of the 

 great forest, where first met the Lady Elizabeth and 

 King Edward. All around the Queen's Oak, the oak of 

 Whittlebury Chase, is one vast joyous solitude of woods 

 and waters, lonely, yet cheerful ; without any habitation, 

 yet not unpeopled, for noble antlers are seen emerging 

 from the brushwood, and joyous birds and butterflies fly in 

 and out among the trees, or flit from one flower to another. 

 All is stillness, and beauty, and luxuriance ; and let him 

 who has found a covert within the woody range, venture 

 not far away, for there are fearful doings in the land. 



Gradually melt away the mists of time, that have 

 hidden for a while .the court of Westminster, but 

 the king is not there, nor yet the queen, nor the couch 

 on which the young child lay; but instead of these, 

 strange men are seen hurrying from room to room, as if 

 in quest of plunder. The moon is up, and her pale 

 beams shine on the white sails of a small vessel, that urges 

 its way, as in fear, from the shores of Lynn, in Norfolk.* 

 They shine, likewise, on a mother with three little girls, 

 and a noble looking dame, the Lady Scrope, who have taken 

 refuge in a strong and gloomy building at the end of St. 

 *Hall. Comines. 



