Needed nor word nor signal more,

Nod, wink, and laughter, all were o'er;
Upon each other back they bore,

And gazed like startled deer.
But now appear'd the Seneschal,
Commission'd by his lord to call
The strangers to the Baron's hall,
Where feasted fair and free
That Island Prince in nuptial tide,
With Edith there his lovely bride,
And her bold brother by her side,
And many a chief, the flower and pride
Of Western land and sea.

Here pause we, gentles, for a space;
And, if our tale hath won your grace
Grant us brief patience, and again
We will renew the minstrel strain.

Wields with their hands, but, still to these unknown,
Makes even their mightiest deeds appear his own.
Such hath it been--shall be-beneath the sun

The many still must labour for the one!

"Tis Nature's doom."-BYRON's Corsair.]

THE

LORD OF THE ISLES.

CANTO SECOND.

THE

LORD OF THE ISLES.

CANTO SECOND.

FILL the bright goblet, spread the festive board!
Summon the gay, the noble, and the fair;
Through the loud hall in joyous concert pour'd,
Let mirth and music sound the dirge of Care!
But ask thou not if Happiness be there,
If the loud laugh disguise convulsive throe,
Or if the brow the heart's true livery wear;
Lift not the festal mask!-enough to know,
No scene of mortal life but teems with mortal woe.'

II.

With beakers' clang, with harpers' lay,
With all that olden time deem'd gay,
The Island Chieftain feasted high;
But there was in his troubled eye
A gloomy fire, and on his brow
Now sudden flush'd, and faded now,
Emotions such as draw their birth
From deeper source than festal mirth.
By fits he paused, and harper's strain
And jester's tale went round in vain,

1

["Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness."-Proverbs, xiv. 13.]

VOL. V.5