Had

mernory

What had he been? what was he, thus unknown,
Who walk'd their world, his lineage only known ?
A hater of his kind ? yet some would say,
With them he could seem gay amidst the gay ;
But own'd that smile, if oft observed and near,
Waned in its mirth, and wither'd to a sneer;
That sinile might reach his lip, but pass'd not by,
Sone e'er could trace its laughter to his eye:
Yet there was softness too in his regard,
At times, a heart as not by nature hard,
Bat once perceived, his spirit seem'd to chide
Such weakness, as unworthy of its pride,
And steel d itself, as scorning to redeem
One doubt from others half withheld esteem;
In self-inflicted penance of a breast
Which tenderness might once have wrung from rest; | If greeted once; however brief the date

Rests at his heart: the custom'd morning came, In vigilance of grief that would compel
And breathed new vigour in his shaken frame; The soul to hate for having loved too well.
And solace sought he none from priest nor leech,
And soon the same in movement and in speech,

XVIII.
As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours,

There was in him a vital scorn of all :
Nor less he smiles, nor more his forehead lowers, As if the worst had fall'n which could befall,
Than these were wont; and if the coming night He stood a stranger in this breathing world,
Appear'd less welcome now to Lara's sight,

An erring spirit from another hurl'd;
He to his marvelling vassals show'd it not,

A thing of dark imaginings, that shaped Whose shuddering proved their fear was less forgot. By choice the perils he by chance escaped ; In trembling pairs (alone they dared not) crawl

But 'scaped in vain, for in their memory yet The astonish'd slaves, and shun the fated hall;

His mind would half exult and half regret : The waving banner, and the clapping door,

With more capacity for love than earth The rustling tapestry, and the echoing floor;

Bestows on most of mortal mould and birth, Tae long dim shadows of surrounding trees,

His early dreams of good outstripp'd the truth, The fapping bat, the night song of the breeze ;

And troubled manhood follow'd baffled youth ; Aught they behold or hear their thought appals,

With thought of years in phantom chase misspent, As efening sadden3 o'er the dark grey walls.

And wasted powers for better purpose lent;
And fiery passions that had pour'd their wrath

In hurried desolation o'er his path,
XVI.

And left the better feelings all at strife
Vain thought! that hour of ne'er unraveli'd gloom

In wild reflection o'er bis stormy life;
Came not again, or Lara could assume

But haughty still, and loth himself to blame,
A seeming of forgetfulness, that made
His vassals more amazed nor less afraid.

He call'd on Nature's self to share the shame,

And charged all faults upon the fleshy form vanish'd then with sense restored !

She gave to clog the soul, and feast the worm ; Since word, nor look, nor gesture of their lord

Till he at last confounded good and ill, Betray'd a feeling that recall'd to these

And half mistook for fate the acts of will :
That fever'd moment of his mind's disease.

Too high for common selfishness, he could
Was it a dream ? was his the voice that spoke
Those strange wild accents; his the cry that broke

At times resign his own for others' good,
Their slumber? his the oppress'd, o'erlabour'd heart

But not in pity, not because he ought, That ceased to beat, the look that made them start?

But in some strange perversity of thought, Could he who thus had suffer'd so forget,

That sway'd him onward with a secret pride

To do what few or none would do beside ;
When such as saw that suffering shudder yet?
Or did that silence prove his memory fix'd

And this same impulse would, in tempting time, Tod deep for words, indelible, unmix'd

Mislead his spirit equally to crime ; In that corroding secrecy which gnaws

So much he soar'd beyond, or sunk beneath, The heart to show the effect, but not the cause ?

The men with whom he felt condemn'd to breathe, Not so in him; his breast had buried both,

And long'd by good or ill to separate Nor common gazers could discern the growth

Himself from all who shared his mortal state; Of thoughts that mortal lips must leave half told;

His mind abhorring this, had fix'd her throne They choke the feeble words that would unfold.

Far from the world, in regions of her own :
Thus coldly passing all that pass'd below,

His blood in temperate seeming now would flow:
XVIL

Ah ! happier if it ne'er with guilt had glow'd, In him inexplicably mix'd appear'd

But ever in that icy smoothness flow'd !
Mach to be loved and hated, sought and fear'd;
Opinion varying o'er his hidden lot,

'Tis true, with other men their path he walk'd, In praise or railing ne'er his name forgot :

And like the rest in seeming did and talk'd, His silence form'd a theme for others' prate

Nor outraged Reason's rules by flaw nor start,

His madness was not of the head, but heart; They guess'd — they gazed — they fain would know And rarely wanderd in his speech, or drew

His thoughts so forth as to offend the view,

XIX,
With all that chilling mystery of mien,
And seeming gladness to remain unseen,
He had (if 't were not nature's boon) an art
Of fixing memory on another's heart:
It was not love perchance - nor hate — nor augat
That words can image to express the thought ;
But they who saw him did not see in vain,
And once behed, would ask of him again :
And those to whom he spake remember'd well,
And on the words, however light, would dwell :
None knew nor how, nor why, but he entwined
Himself perforce around the hearer's mind;
There he was stamp'd, in liking, or in hate,

his fate.

That friendship, pity, or aversion knew,

Doubt not my fitting answer to requite
Still there within the inmost thought he grew. The unlook'd for courtesy of such a knight.
You could not penetrate his soul, but found,

'Tis Lara !- further wouldst thou mark or ask ? Despite your wonder, to your own he wound;

I shun no question, and I wear no mask.”
His presence haunted still ; and from the breast
He forced an all unwilling interest :

“ Thou shunnst no question ! Ponder- is there none Vain was the struggle in that mental net,

Thy heart must answer, though thine ear would shun? His spirit seem'd to dare you to forget.

And deem'st thou me unknown too ? Gaze again!

At least thy memory was not given in vain.
XX.

Oh! never canst thou cancel half her debt,
There is a festival, where knights and dames,

Eternity forbids thee to forget." And aught that wealth or lofty lineage claims,

With slow and searching glance upon his face Appear — a highborn and a welcome guest

Grew Lara's eyes, but nothing there could trace To Otho's hall came Lara with the rest.

They knew, or chose to know — with dubious look The long carousal shakes the illumined hall,

He deign'd no answer, but his head he shook, Well speeds alike the banquet and the ball;

And half contemptuous turn’d to pass away; And the gay dance of bounding Beauty's train

But the stern stranger motion’d him to stay. Links grace and harmony in happiest chain :

“ A word !- I charge thee stay, and answer here Blest are the early hearts and gentle hands

To one, who, wert thou noble, were thy peer, That mingle there in well according bands;

But as thou wast and art — nay, frown not, lord, It is a sight the careful brow might smooth,

If false, 't is easy to disprove the word —
And make Age smile, and dream itself to youth, But as thou wast and art, on thee looks down,
And Youth forget such hour was past on earth,

Distrusts thy smiles, but shakes not at thy frown. So springs the exulting bosom to that mirth!

Art thou not he? whose deeds

“ Whate'er I be, XXI.

Words wild as these, accusers like to thee, And Lara gazed on these, sedately glad,

I list no further ; those with whom they weigh His brow belied him if his soul was sad ;

May hear the rest, nor venture to gainsay

The wondrous tale no doubt thy tongue can tell, And his glance follow'd fast each fluttering fair,

Which thus begins so courteously and well.
Whose steps of lightness woke'no echo there :
He lean'd against the lofty pillar nigh,

Let Otho cherish here his polish'd guest,
With folded arms and long attentive eye,

To him my thanks and thoughts shall be expressid."

And here their wondering host hath interposed Nor mark'd a glance so sternly fix'd on his —

“ Whate'er there be between you undisclosed, Ill brook'd high Lara scrutiny like this:

This is no time nor fitting place to mar At length he caught it— 't is a face unknown,

The mirthful meeting with a wordy war. But seems as searching his, and his alone;

If thou, Sir Ezzelin, hast aught to show Prying and dark, a stranger's by his mien,

Which it befits Count Lara's ear to know,
Who still till now had gazed on him unseen:

To-morrow, here, or elsewhere, as may best
At length encountering meets the mutual gaze
Of keen inquiry, and of mute amaze;

Beseem your mutual judgment, speak the rest;
On Lara's glance emotion gathering grew,

I pledge myself for thee, as not unknown, As if distrusting that the stranger threw;

Though, like Count Lara, now return'd alone

From other lands, almost a stranger grown;
Along the stranger's aspect, fix'd and stern,
Flash'd more than thence the vulgar eye could learn.

And if from Lara's blood and gentle birth
I augur right of courage and of worth,

He will not that untainted line belie,
XXII.

Nor aught that knighthood may accord, deny."
“ 'T is he !" the stranger cried, and those that heard
Re-echoed fast and far the whisper'd word.

“ To-morrow be it,” Ezzelin replied, “ 'Tis he!”—“'Tis who? "they question far and near, “ And here our several worth and truth be tried : Till louder accents rung on Lara's ear;

I gage my life, my falchion to attest
So widely spread, few bosoms well could brook My words, so may I mingle with the blest!"
The general marvel, or that single look :

What answers Lara ? to its centre shrunk
But Lara stirr'd not, changed not, the surprise His soul, in decp abstraction sudden sunk;
That sprung at first to his arrested eyes

The words of many, and the eyes of all Seem'd now subsided, neither sunk nor raised

That there were gather'd, seem'd on him to fall; Glanced his eye round, though still the stranger gazed; | But his were silent, his appear'd to stray And drawing nigh, exclaim'd, with haughty sneer, In far forgetfulness away-away“ 'Tis he! — how came he thence ? - what doth he Alas! that heedlessness of all around here ?"

Bespoke remembrance only too profound.

XXIII.
It were too much for Lara to pass by
Such questions, so repeated fierce and high;
With look collected, but with accent cold,
More mildly firm than petulantly bold,
He turn'd, and met the inquisitorial tone -
“ My name is Lara !- when thine own is known,

XXIV.
“ To-morrow !-ay, to-morrow!” further word
Than those repeated none from Lara heard :
Upon his brow no outward passion spoke ;
From his large eye no flashing anger broke ;
Yet there was something fix'd in that low tone,
Which show'd resolve, determined, though unknown.