Through Moscow's gates, with gold un

barred,

Stepped One at dead of night,
Whom such high beauty could not guard
From meditated blight;

By stealth she passed, and fled as fast
As doth the hunted fawn,

Nor stopped, till in the dappling east 15
Appeared unwelcome dawn.

Seven days she lurked in brake and field,

Seven nights her course renewed, Sustained by what her scrip might yield,

Or berries of the wood;

At length, in darkness travelling on,
When lowly doors were shut,

The haven of her hope she won,

Her Foster-mother's hut.

20

"Have you forgot"-and here she smiled-"The babbling flatteries

You lavished on me when a child
Disporting round your knees?

I was your lambkin, and your bird,
Your star, your gem, your flower;
Light words, that were more lightly
heard

In many a cloudless hour!

"The blossom you so fondly praised 65 Is come to bitter fruit;

A mighty One upon me gazed;

I spurned his lawless suit,

And must be hidden from his wrath:

You, Foster-father dear,

Will guide me in my forward path;
I may not tarry here!

I come," said she, "from far;

For I have left my Father's roof,

In terror of the Czar."

And there, sequestered from the sight, Was spread a treacherous swamp,

Now listen to my fears!

As from a lonely lamp;

Might tell what intercourse she found,

Her silence to endear;

195

200

206

And bore her toward the fields of France,

Her Father's native land,

To mingle in the rustic dance,
The happiest of the band!

Of those beloved fields she oft
Had heard her Father tell

In phrase that now with echoes soft
Haunted her lonely cell;

27

She heard the ancestral stream; The Kremlin and its haughty towers 23 Forgotten like a dream!

PART IV.

THE ever-changing Moon had traced
Twelve times her monthly round,
When through the unfrequented Waste
Was heard a startling sound;

A shout thrice sent from one who chased
At speed a wounded deer,
Bounding through branches interlaced,
And where the wood was clear.

The fainting creature took the marsh,
And toward the Island fled,
While plovers screamed with tur

harsh

Above his antlered head;

This, Ina saw; and, pale with fear,

Shrunk to her citadel;

The pang was hard to bear;

And, if with all things not enwrought,

That trouble still is near.

The future still must be,

The tangled covert fell.

Across the marsh, the game in view,

The Hunter followed fast,

Nor paused, till o'er the stag he blew
A death-proclaiming blast;
Then, resting on her upright mind,

Came forth the Maid-"In me Behold," she said, "a stricken Hind Pursued by destiny!

Into a safer sea

Or gentle Nature close her eyes,

And set her Spirit free

That you have worn a sword,

And will not hold in light esteem

A suffering woman's word;

270

I might have lain concealed,

My fortunes hid, my countenance
Not even to you revealed.

Tears might be shed, and I might

To me the charge hath given.

The Czar full oft in words and deeds

Is stormy and self-willed;

But, when the Lady Catherine pleads, 335 His violence is stilled.

"Leave open to my wish the course, And I to her will go;

From that humane and heavenly source
Good, only good, can flow."

Faint sanction given, the Cavalier
Was eager to depart,

340

Though question followed question, dear To the Maiden's filial heart.

Light was his step,-his hopes, more

320

And universal Moscow shared

it wonder, pity, soon were quelled; And in her face and mien

The triumph of that hour.

le soul's pure brightness he beheld Without a veil between:

loved, he hoped,-a holy flame Kindled 'mid rapturous tears; ne passion of a moment came As on the wings of years.

Buch bounty is no gift of chance," Exclaimed he: "righteous Heaven, 330

Flowers strewed the ground; the nuptial

feast

And there, 'mid many a noble guest, The Foster-parents sate;

Encouraged by the imperial eye,

They shrank not into shade;

370

Great was their bliss, the honour high 375 To them and nature paid!

T