Her fears redouble; throbs her heaving breast; She flies with trembling feet. Alas! in vain. Pale, gasping, down she sinks. Like some poor hare, Whose failing speed the clamorous pack o'ertake. One eager hound hangs o'er her furry back; Quick glancing with a bound she turns away, Nor could her youth, nor could her lovely form Estrildis, tore thy miserable breast At this distracting sight! Oh Guendolen, Has not thy savage fury spent its rage? See how with frantic air the wretched mother They drag her to the cliff. The river rolls His rapid wave beneath. Estrildis strains, Distracted, every nerve. Maternal love And fear supply unwonted force. She bursts She gains the cliff, and round her darling child Of the sea gods: Ocean, the hoary sire; Majestic Tethys; and the dreaded power Who wields th' earth-shaking trident; Nereus old; Doris, and Amphitrite; and, beloved Of thundering Jove, the silver-footed dame; And every god, and every nymph, that rules the The fountains, and rivers of the isle ; Nor absent was the queen of soft desires, Sprung from the wave, delight of earth and heaven, Fair Aphrodite. Scattering balmy sweets, The loves around her, and the graces move, And the light zephyr plies his filmy wings. Won by her soft request, her kindred gods The gentle Sabra, from her race deriv'd, And fill'd her soul with courage not her own. "Now, Guendolen," she cried, "I scorn thy power, And all thy rage is vain. Oh welcome, death! No longer arm'd with terrors, thus I court thee." So saying, from the steep and lofty cliff Headlong she plung'd into the rolling flood. Ah, Paladour! in vain thy dauntless breast Those glitt'ring arms with martial pomp invest; Ah, taught in vain, upon the listed field, To rein the steed, the fatal lance to wield; END OF THE FIRST CANTO. |