XV. Judge both Fugitives with knowledge: In those old romantic days To support, restrain, or raise. Foes might hang upon their path, snakes rustle near, XVI. Thought infirm ne'er came between them. Whether printing desert sands With accordant steps, or gathering Forest-fruit with social hands; Or whispering like two reeds that in the cold moonbeam Bend with the breeze their heads, beside a crystal stream. XVII. On a friendly deck reposing They at length for Venice steer; There, when they had closed their voyage, One, who daily on the pier Watched for tidings from the East, beheld his Lord, XVIII. Mutual was the sudden transport; Breathless questions followed fast, Years contracting to a moment, Each word greedier than the last; "Hie thee to the Countess, friend return with speed, And of this Stranger speak by whom her lord was freed. THE ARMENIAN LADY'S LOVE. XIX. Say that I, who might have languished, Now before the gates of Stolberg My Deliverer would present * For a crowning recompense, the precious grace Of her who in my heart still holds her ancient place. XX. Make it known that my Companion Is of royal eastern blood, Innocent, and meek, and good, Though with misbelievers bred; but that dark night XXI. Swiftly went that grey-haired Servant, For a sunny thought to cheer the Stranger's way, 227 XXII. And how blest the Reunited, While beneath their castle-walls, * A small town in Prussian-Saxony, the residence of the Counts of Stolberg-Stolberg.-ED. Doth in its silence of past sorrow tell, 1 And makes1 a meeting seem most like a dear farewell. XXIII. Through a haze of human nature, Looked the beautiful Deliverer On that overpowering sight, While across her virgin cheek pure blushes strayed, XXIV. On the ground the weeping Countess Pledge of an eternal band: Nor did aught of future days that kiss belie, XXV. Constant to the fair Armenian, Gentle pleasures round her moved, Like a tutelary spirit Reverenced, like a sister, loved. Christian meekness smoothed for all the path of life, Who, loving most, should wiseliest love, their only strife. Fancy (while, to banners floating The devout embraces still, while such tears fell As made 1835. THE RUSSIAN FUGITIVE. 229 XXVI. Mute memento of that union In a Saxon church survives, Where a cross-legged Knight lies sculptured As between two wedded Wives Figures with armorial signs of race and birth, And the vain rank the pilgrims bore while yet on earth. [Early in life this story had interested me, and I often thought it would make a pleasing subject for an opera or musical drama.] PART I. ENOUGH of rose-bud lips, and eyes And veins of violet hue;† * Peter Henry Bruce, having given in his entertaining Memoirs the substance of this Tale affirms that, besides the concurring reports of others, he had the story from the lady's own mouth. The Lady Catherine, mentioned towards the close, is the famous Catherine, then bearing that name as the acknowledged Wife of Peter the Great.-W. W., 1835. The title of this poem in the MS. copy by Mrs Wordsworth is— IN A, THE LODGE IN THE FOREST, A Russian Tale. + Compare S. T. Coleridge's verses, To a Lady— ""Tis not the lily brow I prize, -ED. A thousand-fold more dear to me, Also Keats' lines beginning— "Woman! when I beheld thee flippant, vain." -ED. Earth wants not beauty that may scorn A likening to frail flowers; Yea, to the stars, if they were born1 Through Moscow's gates, with gold unbarred,2 From meditated blight; By stealth she passed, and fled as fast Nor stopped, till in the dappling east Seven days she lurked in brake and field, At length, in darkness travelling on, Her Foster-mother's hut. "To put your love to dangerous proof No answer did the Matron give, No second look she cast, Yea, to the stars themselves, if born |