2 In this beautiful stanza, the author seemed to him that in the course and proxpresses the enthusiastic gladness with gress of this event all the ancient holdings hich he had himself hailed the French of oppression and wrong were to disapCevolution of 1789, which he confidently pear, and a golden age of universal peace egarded as the dawn of a new era of free-to succeed. om and happiness in the world. It Earth wants not beauty that may scorn For I have left my Father's roof, No answer did the Matron give, She led the Lady to a seat Prevented each desire: The cricket chirp'd, the house-dog dozed, Where she in childhood had reposed, When she, whose couch had been the sod, While over her the Matron bent Sleep seal'd her eyes, and stole Feeling from limbs with travel spent, Refresh'd, the Wanderer rose at morn, "My thanks with silent tears Have you forgot" (and here she smiled) Through Moscow's gates, with gold un-You lavish'd on me when a child By stealth she pass'd, and fled as fast Nor stopp'd, till in the dappling East Seven days she lurk'd in brake and field, Seven nights her course renew'd, Or berries of the wood; "To put your love to dangerous proof I come," said she, "from far; 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 spurn'd his lawless suit, And must be hidden from his wrath: 3 Prevented in the old sense of antici pated. The usage is frequent in Shakespeare, as also in the Bible and PrayerBook. THE RUSSIAN FUGITIVE. 17 annot bring to utter woe Your proved fidelity.”. The bold good Man his labour sped At nature's pure command; Dear Child, sweet Mistress, say not so! Heart-soothed, and busy as a wren, or you we both would die." ay, nay, I come with semblance feign'd and cheek embrown'd by art; t, being inwardly unstain'd, With courage will depart." While, in a hollow nook, She moulds her sight-eluding den Above a murmuring brook. His task accomplish'd to his mind, The twain ere break of day ut whither would you, could you, flee? Creep forth, and through the forest wind A poor Man's counsel take; e Holy Virgin gives to me A thought for your dear sake: st, shielded by our Lady's grace, And soon shall you be led rth to a safe abiding-place, Where never foot doth tread." PART II. E dwelling of this faithful pair n a straggling village stood,r One who breathed unquiet air A dangerous neighbourhood; t wide around lay forest ground Vith thickets rough and blind; d pine-trees made a heavy shade mpervious to the wind. d there, sequester'd from the sight, Vas spread a treacherous swamp, which the noonday Sun shed light As from a lonely lamp; ad midway in th' unsafe morass A single Island rose firm dry ground, with healthful grass Adorn'd, and shady boughs, e Woodman knew-for such the craft This Russian vassal plied at never fowler's gun, nor shaft Of archer, there was tried: sanctuary seem'd the spot From all intrusion free; d there he plann'd an artful Cot For perfect secrecy. ith earnest pains uncheck'd by dread Of Power's far-stretching hand, Their solitary way; Few words they speak, nor dare to slack Their pace from mile to mile, Till they have cross'd the quaking marsh, And reach'd the lonely Isle. The Sun above the pine-trees show'd The promised hiding-place: She sought in vain, the Woodman smiled; No threshold could be seen, Nor roof, nor window; -all seem'd wild As it had ever been. Advancing, you might guess an hour, The front with such nice care Is mask'd, "if house it be 5 or bower," As shaggy as were wall and roof And hearth was there, and maple dish, For nurture or repose; And Heaven doth to her virtue grant In solitude, with every want No queen, before a shouting crowd, E'er struggled with a heart so proud, 5 Some obscurity here, perhaps; but the word if is construed with guess, and is equivalent to whether; the sense thus 1 The meaning probably is, "Whither being, "you might guess an hour whether "Father of all, upon Thy care And mercy am I thrown; Upon her Island desolate; And words, not breathed in vain, Be Thou my safeguard!" such her prayer Might tell what intercourse she found, To one mute Presence, above all, Her soothed affections clung, The prayer is heard, the Saints have seen, A picture on the cabin wall Diffused through form and face, Resolves devotedly serene; That monumental grace Of Faith, which doth all passions tame Yet, when above the forest glooms The white swans southward pass'd, High as the pitch of their swift plumes Her fancy rode the blast; And bore her toward the fields of France, Her Father's native land, To mingle in the rustic dance, The happiest of the band! 6 It may be well to note that bay and laurel mean the same thing. Wordsworth probably had in mind a passage of The Faerie Queene, i. 1, 9: "The laurell, meed Of those beloved fields she oft of mightie conquerours and poets sage." Had heard her Father tell, |