windows, the fire-place, and the apertures made above the columns. That this building could not have been erected for a windmill, is what an architect will easily discern." I will not enter into a discussion of the point. It is sufficiently well established for the purpose of a ballad; though doubtless many an honest citizen of Newport, who has passed his days within sight of the Round Tower, will be ready to exclaim, with Sancho, "God"bless me ! did I not warn you to have a care of what you were doing, for that is nothing but a windmill; and nobody could mistake it, but one who had the like in his head."] "SPEAK! speak! thou fearful guest! Comest to daunt me! Wrapt not in Eastern balms, Why dost thou haunt me ?" Then, from those cavernous eyes, As when the Northern skies And, like the water's flow Came a dull voice of woe From the heart's chamber. "I was a Viking old! My deeds, though manifold, No Saga taught thee! Take heed, that in thy verse Else dread a dead man's curse! "Far in the Northern Land, B Tamed the ger-falcon ; And, with my skates fast bound, "Oft to his frozen lair Oft through the forest dark Sang from the meadow. "But when I older grew, With the marauders. "Many a wassail-bout Set the cocks crowing, As we the Berserk's tale Filled to o'erflowing. "Once, as I told in glee And as the white stars shine Fell their soft splendour. "I wooed the blue-eyed maid, Yielding, yet half afraid, And in the forest's shade Our vows were plighted. Under its loosened vest Like birds within their nest By the hawk frighted. "Bright in her father's hall When of old Hildebrand I asked his daughter's hand, "While the brown ale he quaffed, The sea-foam brightly, So the loud laugh of scorn, Out of those lips unshorn, From the deep drinking-horn Blew the foam lightly. "She was a Prince's child, I but a Viking wild, And though she blushed and smiled, Should not the dove so white Why did they leave that night "Scarce had I put to sea, Bearing the maid with me, Fairest of all was she Among the Norsemen ! When on the white sea-strand, Saw we old Hildebrand, With twenty horsemen. "Then launched they to the blast, When the wind failed us; And with a sudden flaw Came round the gusty Skaw, So that our foe we saw Laugh as he hailed us. "And as to catch the gale, Round veered the flapping sail, Mid-ships with iron keel Struck we her ribs of steel; Down her black hulk did reel Through the black water! "As with his wings aslant, Sails the fierce cormorant, Seeking some rocky haunt, With his prey laden, So toward the open main, Through the wild hurricane, "Three weeks we westward bore, And when the storm was o'er, Cloud-like we saw the shore Stretching to leeward; There for my lady's bower Stands looking seaward. "There lived we many years; She was a mother; Death closed her mild blue eyes, On such another! "Still grew my bosom then, The sunlight hateful! In the vast forest here, O, death was grateful! "Thus, seamed with many scars, My soul ascended; There from the flowing bowl Deep drinks the warrior's soul, Skoal! to the Northland! Skoal!"1 -Thus the tale is ended. THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS. IT was the schooner Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea; And the skipper had taken his little daughter, To bear him company. Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax, Her cheeks like the dawn of day, And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds That ope in the month of May. |