As the break-covert blood-hounds of such sin :

They dipp'd their swords in the water, and did tease Their horses homeward, with convulsed spur,

Each richer by his being a murderer.

XXIX.

They told their sister how, with sudden speed,
Lorenzo had ta'en ship for foreign lands,
Because of some great urgency and need
In their affairs, requiring trusty hands.
Poor Girl! put on thy stifling widow's weed,

And 'scape at once from Hope's accursed bands;
To-day thou wilt not see him, nor to-morrow,

And the next day will be a day of sorrow.

XXX.

She weeps alone for pleasures not to be;
Sorely she wept until the night came on,
And then, instead of love, O misery!

She brooded o'er the luxury alone:
His image in the dusk she seem'd to see,
And to the silence made a gentle moan,

Spreading her perfect arms upon the air,

And on her couch low murmuring "Where? O where?"

XXXI.

But Selfishness, Love's cousin, held not long

Its fiery vigil in her single breast;

She fretted for the golden hour, and hung

Upon the time with feverish unrest—

(XXX) The manuscript reads wept for weeps in line I ; and line 5 stands thus:

What might have been too plainly did she see...

(XXXI) In lines 2 and 3 the manuscript shows the cancelled reading

Not long-for soon into her heart a throng
Of higher occupants, a richer zest,
Came tragic; passion not to be subdu'd,
And sorrow for her love in travels rude.

XXXII.

In the mid days of autumn, on their eves
The breath of Winter comes from far away,
And the sick west continually bereaves

Of some gold tinge, and plays a roundelay
Of death among the bushes and the leaves,

To make all bare before he dares to stray
From his north cavern. So sweet Isabel
By gradual decay from beauty fell,

XXXIII.

Because Lorenzo came not. Oftentimes

She ask'd her brothers, with an eye all pale, Striving to be itself, what dungeon climes

Could keep him off so long? They spake a tale

Time after time, to quiet her. Their crimes

Came on them, like a smoke from Hinnom's vale;
And every night in dreams they groan'd aloud,
To see their sister in her snowy shroud.

Its fiery vigil in her native Mind
For joy escap'd she mourn'd.

In lines 7 and 8 there is the rejected reading

Passions not to be subdued

Exalting her to patient Fortitude...

and again—

A yearning for her Love.

(XXXII) In line 4 the manuscript reads bind for keep; and in line 5 Month after Month for Time after time. In line 6, heavy is cancelled between Came and on. For Hinnom's Vale see the Second

XXXIV.

And she had died in drowsy ignorance,

But for a thing more deadly dark than all ;
It came like a fierce potion, drunk by chance,
Which saves a sick man from the feather'd pall
For some few gasping moments; like a lance,
Waking an Indian from his cloudy hall
With cruel pierce, and bringing him again
Sense of the gnawing fire at heart and brain.

XXXV.

It was a vision.-In the drowsy gloom,
The dull of midnight, at her couch's foot
Lorenzo stood, and wept: the forest tomb

Had marr'd his glossy hair which once could shoot

Lustre into the sun, and put cold doom

Upon his lips, and taken the soft lute

From his lorn voice, and past his loamed ears
Had made a miry channel for his tears.

Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, Chapter XXVIII, verse 3: "Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel." (XXXIV) Cancelled reading of line 4—

Which saves the sick some moments from the Pall.

(XXXV) In line I the manuscript reads heavy for drowsy; and I cannot but think this application of the same adjective to ignorance and to gloom in the same page was a printer's or copyist's error. In line 3, His has been struck out in favour of The; and lines 4 to 7 originally read

Had marr'd his glossy hair, that once could shoot
Bright gold into the Sun, and stamp'd his doom

Upon his soiled lips, and took the mellow Lute

From his deep voice, and down past his loamed ears...

But the reading put cold doom, and taken the soft Lute were after

XXXVI.

Strange sound it was, when the pale shadow spake ;
For there was striving, in its piteous tongue,
To speak as when on earth it was awake,
And Isabella on its music hung:
Languor there was in it, and tremulous shake,
As in a palsied Druid's harp unstrung;
And through it moan'd a ghostly under-song,
Like hoarse night-gusts sepulchral briars among.

XXXVII.

Its eyes, though wild, were still all dewy bright
With love, and kept all phantom fear aloof
From the poor girl by magic of their light,

The while it did unthread the horrid woof
Of the late darken'd time,-the murderous spite
Of pride and avarice,-the dark pine roof
In the forest,-and the sodden turfed dell,
Where, without any word, from stabs he fell.

XXXVIII.

Saying moreover, "Isabel, my sweet!

"Red whortle-berries droop above my head, "And a large flint-stone weighs upon my feet; "Around me beeches and high chestnuts shed

wards substituted; and the redundant words soiled and down were struck out.

(XXXVI) In line I there is the cancelled reading Strange was the sound; and poor for pale stands in the manuscript. Line 5 opens with Passion there was in it, and did open with And there was Love in it. Line 7 begins with But in the manuscript.

(XXXVII) The manuscript reads fears in line 2.

"Their leaves and prickly nuts; a sheep-fold bleat
"Comes from beyond the river to my bed:
"Go, shed one tear upon my heather-bloom,
"And it shall comfort me within the tomb.

XXXIX.

“I am a shadow now, alas! alas!

"Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling "Alone: I chant alone the holy mass,

"While little sounds of life are round me knelling, "And glossy bees at noon do fieldward pass,

“And many a chapel bell the hour is telling, "Paining me through: those sounds grow strange to me, "And thou art distant in Humanity.

XL.

"I know what was, I feel full well what is,

"And I should rage, if spirits could go mad;

Though I forget the taste of earthly bliss,

"That paleness warms my grave, as though I had

(XXXVIII) In line 6, instead of river, the manuscript reads Ano (for Arno); and the final couplet is—

Go shed a tear upon my hether bloom

And I shall turn a diamond in my tomb.

Line 5

No doubt I should be it; but I is very plainly written. (XXXIX) Cancelled opening for line 3, I moan alone. begins with While instead of And. The couplet was first sketched in thus

Paining me through-those sounds to me grow strange

And thou art far beyond them...

but the reading of the text is supplied.

(XL) After what was, in line 1, the words and now are cancelled in the manuscript, which, in line 2, reads rave for rage and shadows for spirits. Line 3 stands thus

Though I forget what Pleasure was a kiss...