THE RUSSIAN FUGITIVE "From your deportment, Sir! I deem That you have worn a sword, And will not hold in light esteem A suffering woman's word; There is my covert, there perchance I might have lain concealed, My fortunes hid, my countenance Not even to you revealed. "Tears might be shed, and I might pray, Crouching and terrified, That what has been unveiled to-day, You would in mystery hide; 249 25 30 35 But I will not defile with dust The knee that bends to adore The God in heaven ;-attend, be just; This ask I, and no more! 40 "I speak not of the winter's cold, For summer's heat exchanged, While I have lodged in this rough hold, From social life estranged; To end life here like this poor deer, 55 "Are you the Maid," the Stranger cried, "From Gallic parents sprung, Whose vanishing was rumoured wide, Your head in this dark lair!" But wonder, pity, soon were quelled; The soul's pure brightness he beheld He loved, he hoped,—a holy flame "Such bounty is no gift of chance," 1 1835. To me the charge hath given. "Leave open to my wish the course, And I to her will go ; From that humane and heavenly source, Faint sanction given, the Cavalier Was eager to depart, Though question followed question, dear Recounted all he knew, the Cavalier The sufferer's filial heart to cheer; Then hastily withdrew. 80 85 MS. THE RUSSIAN FUGITIVE Light was his step,—his hopes, more light, And the fifth morning gave him sight He sued:-heart-smitten by the wrong, The Emperor sent a pledge as strong As sovereign power could give. O more than mighty change! If e'er And joy's excess 2 produced a fear Of something void and vain; 'Twas when the Parents, who had mourned So long the lost as dead, Beheld their only Child returned, 251 90 95 100 The household floor to tread. Soon gratitude gave way to love 105 Within the Maiden's breast: Delivered and Deliverer move In bridal garments drest; Meek Catherine had her own reward; The Czar bestowed a dower; And universal Moscow shared The triumph of that hour. Flowers strewed the ground; the nuptial feast Was held with costly state; And there, 'mid many a noble guest, The Foster-parents sate; Encouraged by the imperial eye, They shrank not into shade; Great was their bliss, the honour high ΙΙΟ 115 120 THE EGYPTIAN MAID OR, THE ROMANCE OF THE WATER LILY Composed 1830.-Published 1835 For the names and persons in the following poem, see the "History of the renowned Prince Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table"; for the rest the Author is answerable; only it may be proper to add, that the Lotus, with the bust of the Goddess appearing to rise out of the full-blown flower, was suggested by the beautiful work of ancient art, once included among the Townley Marbles, and now in the British Museum. -W. W. 1835. [In addition to the short notice prefixed to this poem, it may be worth while here to say, that it rose out of a few words casually used in conversation by my nephew, Henry Hutchinson. He was describing with great spirit the appearance and movement of a vessel which he seemed to admire more than any other he had ever seen, and said her name was the Water Lily. This plant has been my delight from my boyhood, as I have seen it floating on the lake; and that conversation put me upon constructing and composing the poem. Had I not heard those words, it would never have been written. The form of the stanza is new, and is nothing but a repetition of the first five lines as they were thrown off, and is not perhaps well suited to narrative, and certainly would not have been trusted to had I thought at the beginning that the poem would have gone to such a length.-I. F.] In the editions of 1835 and 1837 this poem was assigned a place of its own. In 1845 it was placed among the "Memorials of a Tour in Italy, 1837."-ED. WHILE Merlin paced the Cornish sands, Of a bright Ship that seemed to hang in air, And took from men her name-THE WATER LILY. 5 THE EGYPTIAN MAID Soft was the wind, that landward blew ; And, as the Moon, o'er some dark hill ascendant, To a full orb, this Pinnace bright Became, as nearer to the coast she drew, 253 More glorious, with spread sail and streaming pendant. Upon this wingèd Shape so fair Sage Merlin gazed with admiration : Aught that was ever shown in magic glass; Or, at a touch, produced by happiest transformation.1 Now, though a Mechanist, whose skill Shames the degenerate grasp of modern science, For practising occult and perilous lore) Was subject to a freakish will ΙΟ 15 20 That sapped good thoughts, or scared them with defiance. Provoked to envious spleen, he cast An altered look upon the advancing Stranger 25 "My Art shall help to tame her pride--" Anon the breeze became a blast, And the waves rose, and sky portended danger. 30 With thrilling word, and potent sign Traced on the beach, his work the Sorcerer urges ; Like spiteful Fiends that vanish, crossed And the winds roused the Deep with fiercer scourges. 1 1837. set forth with wondrous transformation. 1835. 35 |