And "O beloved Nurse!" she said,

"My thanks with silent tears

Have unto Heaven and you been paid:
Now listen to my fears!

"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

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 cannot bring to utter woe

Your proved fidelity."

"Dear Child, sweet Mistress, say not so! For you we both would die."

"Nay, nay, I come with semblance feigned

And cheek embrowned by art;

Yet, being inwardly unstained,

With courage will depart."

"But whither would you, could you, flee? A poor man's counsel take;

The Holy Virgin gives to me

A thought for your dear sake;
Rest, shielded by our Lady's grace,
And soon shall you be led
Forth to a safe abiding-place,
Where never foot doth tread."

PART II.

THE dwelling of this faithful pair
In a straggling village stood,
For one who breathed unquiet air
A dangerous neighborhood;
But wide around lay forest ground
With thickets rough and blind;
And pine-trees made a heavy shade
Impervious to the wind.

And there, sequestered from the sight,
Was spread a treacherous swamp,
On which the noonday sun shed light
As from a lonely lamp;

And midway in the unsafe morass
A single Island rose,

Of firm, dry ground with healthful grass
Adorned, and shady boughs.

The Woodman knew, for such the craft

This Russian vassal plied,

That never fowler's gun, nor shaft

Of archer, there was tried;
A sanctuary seemed the spot
From all intrusion free;

And there he planned an artful Cot
For perfect secrecy.

With earnest pains, unchecked by dread
Of Power's far-stretching hand,
The bold, good Man his labor sped
At Nature's pure command;
Heart-soothed, and busy as a wren,
While, in a hollow nook,

She moulds her sight-eluding den
Above a murmuring brook.

His task accomplished to his mind,
The twain, ere break of day

Creep forth, and through the forest wind

Their solitary way;

Few words they speak, nor dare to slack Their pace from mile to mile,

Till they have crossed the quaking marsh, And reached the lonely Isle.

The sun above the pine-trees showed

A bright and cheerful face, And Ina looked for her abode,

The promised hiding-place;

She sought in vain: the Woodman smiled;

No threshold could be seen,

Nor roof, nor window;

all seemed wild

As it had ever been.

Advancing, you might guess an hour,
The front with such nice care
Is masked, "if house it be or bower,"
But in they entered are;

As shaggy as were wall and roof
With branches intertwined,

So smooth was all within, air-proof,
And delicately lined:

And hearth was there, and maple dish,
And cups in seemly rows,

And couch,

- all ready to a wish

For nurture or repose;

And Heaven doth to her virtue grant

That there she may abide

In solitude, with every want

By cautious love supplied.

No queen, before a shouting crowd,
Led on in bridal state,

E'er struggled with a heart so proud,

Entering her palace gate;

Rejoiced to bid the world farewell,

No saintly anchoress

E'er took possession of her cell

With deeper thankfulness.

"Father of all, upon thy care

And mercy am I thrown;

Be thou my safeguard!"—such her prayer When she was left alone,

Kneeling amid the wilderness

When joy had passed away, And smiles, fond efforts of distress To hide what they betray!

The prayer is heard, the Saints have seen, Diffused through form and face, Resolves devotedly serene;

That monumental grace

Of Faith, which doth all passions tame
That Reason should control;
And shows in the untrembling frame
A statue of the soul.

PART III.

'T is sung in ancient minstrelsy
That Phoebus wont to wear
The leaves of any pleasant tree
Around his golden hair;

Till Daphne, desperate with pursuit

Of his imperious love,

At her own prayer transformed, took root,

A laurel in the grove.