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No. XIII.

THE CLOUD-KING.

ADJECTIVES HAVE BUT THREE DEGREES OF COMPARISON,
THE POSITIVE, COMPARATIVE, AND SUPERLATIVE."
English Grammar.

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WHY how now, Sir Pilgrim? why shake you with dread?
Why brave you the winds of night, cutting and cold?

Full warm was your chamber, full foft was your bed,
And scarce by the castle-bell twelve has been toll'd.

"Oh! hear you not, Warder, with anxious difmay, "How rages the tempeft, how patters the rain? "While loud howls the whirlwind, and threatens, ere day, "To ftrow these old turrets in heaps on the plain!"

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Now calm thee, Sir Pilgrim! thy fears to remove,

Know, yearly, this morning is deftin'd to bring
Such ftorms, which declare that refentment and love
Still gnaw the proud heart of the cruel Cloud-King.

One morning, as borne on the wings of the blaft,
The fiend over Denmark directed his flight,
A glance upon Rofenhall's turrets he caft,

And gazed on its lady with wanton delight:

Yet proud was her eye, and her cheek flush'd with rage,
Her lips with difdain and reproaches were fraught;
And lo! at her feet knelt a lovely young page,
And thus in foft accents compaffion befought.

"O drive not, dear beauty, a wretch to despair, "Whofe fault is fo venial, a fault if it be ;

"For who could have eyes, and not fee thou art fair? "Or who have an heart, and not give it to thee?

"I own I adore you! I own you have been

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Long the dream of my night, long the thought of

day;

"But no hope had my heart that its idolized queen “Would ever with paffion my paffion repay.

"When infects delight in the blaze of the fun,

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They harbour no wish in his glory to share :

my

"When

"When kneels at the crofs of her Saviour the nun, "He fcorns not the praifes fhe breathes in her prayer.

"When the pilgrim repairs to St. Hermegild's fhrine, "And claims of her relics a kifs as his fee,

"His paífion is humble, is pure, is divine,

"And fuch is the paffion I cherish for thee !"

"Rash youth! how prefumeft thou with infolent love," Thus anfwered the lady, "her ears to profane,

"Whom the monarchs of Norway and Jutland, to move "Their paffion to pity attempted in vain?

"Fly, fly from my fight, to fome far diftant land!

"That wretch muft not breathe, where Romilda refides, "Whofe lips, while fhe flept, ftole a kifs from that hand, "No mortal is worthy to press as a bride's.

"Nor e'er will I wed till fome prince of the air,
"His heart at the throne of my beauty fhall lay,

"And the two firft commands which I give him, fhall

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fwear,

(Though hard fhould the taik be enjoin?d) to obey."

She faid. Straight the caftle of Rofenhall rocks

With an earthquake, and thunders announce the CloudKing.

A crown of red lightnings confined his fair locks,

And high o'er each arm waved an huge fable wing.

His

His fandals were meteors; his blue eye reveal'd
The firmament's luftre, and light scatter'd round;
While his robe, a bright tiffue of rain-drops congeal'd,
Reflected the lightnings his temples that bound.

"Romilda!" he thundered, "thy charms and thy pride "Have drawn down a fpirit; thy fears now difmifs, "For no mortal fhall call thee, proud beauty, his bride; "The Cloud-Monarch comes to demand thee for his.

My eyes furnish lightnings, my wings cloud the air,

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My hand guides the thunder, iny breath wakes the ftorm;

"And the two first commands which you give me, I swear, (Though hard fhould the task be enjoin'd) to perform.".

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He faid, and he feized her; then urging his flight,
Swift bore her away, while fhe ftruggled in vain ;
Yet long in her ears rang the fhrieks of affright,
Which pour'd for her danger the page Amorayn.

At the Palace of Clouds foon Romilda arrived,

When the Fiend, with a fmile which her terrors in

creased,

Exclaim'd- "I muft warn my three brothers I'm wived,

"And bid them prepare for my wedding the feaft."

Than

Than lightning then fwifter thrice round did he turn,
Thrice bitterly curfed he the parent of good,

And next in a chafing-dish haften'd to burn

Three locks of his hair, and three drops of his blood:

And quickly Romilda, with anxious affright,

Heard the tramp of a fteed, and beheld at the gate A youth in white arms-'twas the falfe Water-Spright, And behind him his mother, the forcerefs, fate.

The youth he was comely, and fair to behold,
The hag was the fouleft eye ever furvey'd ;
Each placed on the table a goblet of gold,

While thus to Romilda the Water-King faid.

"Hail, Queen of the Clouds! lo! we bring thee for drink

"The blood of a damfel, both lovely and rich,

"Whom I tempted, and left 'midst the billows to fink, "Where she died by the hands of my mother, the witch.

"But fee'ft thou yon chariot, which speeds from afar? "The Erl-King with his daughter it brings, while a throng

"Of wood-fiends and fuccubi fports round the car, "And goads on the night-mares that whirl it along."

The maid, while her eyes tears of agony pour'd,
Beheld the Erl-King and his daughter draw near:

A charger

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