Was in the limpid age of this stained world The most assured seat of [ ] And new-born waters, deemed the happiest source 165 Of inspiration for the conscious lyre. Lured by the crystal element in times Stormy and fierce, the Maid of Arc withdrew From human converse to frequent alone The Fountain of the Fairies. What to her, 170 Smooth summer dreams, old favours of the place. Pageant and revels of blithe elves--to her Whose country groan’d under a foreign scourge? She pondered murmurs that attuned her ear For the reception of far other sounds 175 Than their too happy minstrelsy,--a Voice Reached her with supernatural mandate charged More awful than the chambers of dark earth Have virtue to send forth. Upon the marge Of the benignant fountain, while she stood 180 Gazing intensely, the translucent lymph Darkened beneath the shadow of her thoughts As if swift clouds swept o’er it, or caught War’s tincture, ’mid the forest green and still, Turned into blood before her heart-sick eye. 185 Erelong, forsaking all her natural haunts, All her accustomed offices and cares Relinquishing, but treasuring every law And grace of feminine humanity, The chosen Rustic urged a warlike steed 190 Toward the beleaguered city, in the might Of prophecy, accoutred to fulfil, At the sword’s point, visions conceived in love. The cloud of rooks descending thro’ mid air Softens its evening uproar towards a close[398] 195 Near and more near; for this protracted strain A warning not unwelcome. Fare thee well! Emblem of equanimity and truth, Farewell!--if thy composure be not ours, Yet as thou still, when we are gone, wilt keep 200 Thy living chaplet of fresh flowers and fern, Cherished in shade tho’ peeped at[399] by the sun; So shall our bosoms feel a covert growth Of grateful recollections, tribute due To thy obscure and modest attributes 205 To thee, dear Spring,[400] and all-sustaining Heaven! [396] The MS. has a second reading, “covetous hand.”--ED. [397] In MS. also “its herbs.”--ED. [398] … to a close From a MS. copied at Rydal by Professor Reed in 1854. [399] … pecked at … From a MS. copied at Rydal by Professor Reed in 1854. [400] … clear Spring … From a MS. copied at Rydal by Professor Reed in 1854. “I, WHOSE PRETTY VOICE YOU HEAR” These lines were written for Miss Fanny Barlow of Middlethorpe Hall, York. She was first married to the Rev. E. Trafford Leigh, and afterwards to Dr. Eason Wilkinson of Manchester.--ED.