ALICE DU CLOS: OR THE FORKED TONGUE. A BALLAD. "One word with two meanings is the traitor's shield and shaft and a slit tongue be his blazon!" 66 "THE sun is not yet risen, Caucasian Proverb. But the dawn lies red on the dew; Lord Julian has stolen from the hunters away, Is seeking, lady, for you. Put on your dress of green, Your buskins and your quiver; Lord Julian is a hasty man, Long waiting brook'd he never. Your lord and master for to be, And you his lady gay. O lady! throw your book aside! I would not that my lord should chide.” Thus spake Sir Hugh the vassal knight As that moon-shiny doe, The gold star on its brow, her sire's ancestral crest! She in the garden bower below The lattice of her bower— Of flight and fear he stay'd behind, O! Alice could read passing well, The vassal's speech, his taunting vein, She rais'd her head, nor did she deign "Off, traitor friend! how dar'st thou fix Thy wanton gaze on me? And why, against my earnest suit, "Go, tell thy lord, that slow is sure: I follow here a stronger lure, She said and with a baleful smile That shouldering sideways in mid plunge, And staggering onward, leaves the ear And Alice sate with troubled mien A moment; for the scoff was keen, There stands the flowering may-thorn tree! From thro' the veiling mist you see The black and shadowy stem ;Smit by the sun the mist in glee Dissolves to lightsome jewelryEach blossom hath its gem! With tear-drop glittering to a smile, "Hip! Florian, hip! To horse, to horse! Go, bring the palfrey out. "My Julian's out with all his clan, And, bonny boy, you wis, Lord Julian is a hasty man, Who comes late, comes amiss." Now Florian was a stripling squire, That toss'd his head in joy and pride, But blush'd to hold her train. The huntress is in her dress of green,— The squire no younger e'er was seen— And had not Ellen stay'd the race, |