of old, were dull
To quell their yearnings pitiful:--
The guests forgot the jester's strain,
To think upon the harp again,
And of the youth who, to its swell,
So late, his sighs did syllable.

Natheless, no guest was skilled to find,
At once, fit words that might proclaim,--
For one who seemed without a name,--
Their sympathy;--and so, with kind
Intent, they urged some roundelay
The stranger minstrel would essay.

He struck the harp, forthwith, but sung
Of passion still,--and still it clung
To Love--his full, melodious tongue!

The Minstrel's Avowal.

O yes! I hold thee in my heart;
Nor shall thy cherished form depart
From its loved home: though sad I be,--
My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

My dawn of life is dimmed and dark;
Hope's flame is dwindled to a spark;
But, though I live thus dyingly,--
My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

Though short my summer's day hath been,
And now the winter's eve is keen,--
Yet, while the storm descends on me,--
My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

No look of love upon me beams,--
No tear of pity for me streams:--
A thing forlorn--despairingly--
My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

Thine eye would pity wert thou free
To soothe my woe; and though I be
Condemned to helpless misery,
My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

* * * * *

The maidens wept--the clowns looked glum--
Each rustic reveller was dumb:
Sir Wilfrid struggled hard to hide
Revengeful throes and ireful pride,
That, now, his wounded bosom swelled,--
For in that youth he had beheld
An image which had overcast
His life with sorrow in the Past:--
He struggled,--and besought the youth
To leave his strains of woe and ruth
For some light lay, or merry rhyme,
More fitting Yule's rejoicing time.--
And, though it cost him dear, the while,
He eyed the minstrel with a smile.

The stranger waited not to note
The Baron's speech: like one distraught
He struck the harp--a wild farewell
Thus breathing to its deepest swell:--

The Minstrel's Farewell.

Oh! smile not upon me--my heart is not smiling:
Too long it hath mourned, 'neath reproach and reviling:
Thy smile is a false one: it never can bless me:
It doth not relieve,--but more deeply distress me!

I care not for beauty; I care not for riches:
I am not the slave whom their t