Robert Southey

“ From the Most High. I saw a town hemm'd in [8] ⁠445
Like Harfleur, round with enemies begirt,
Where Famine on a heap of carcasses
Half envious of the unutterable feast
Mark'd the gorg'd raven clog his beak with gore.
I turn'd me then to the besieger's camp,⁠450
And there was revelry: the loud lewd laugh
Burst on mine ears, and I beheld the chiefs
Even at their feast plan the device of Death.
My soul grew sick within me: then methought
From a dark lowering cloud, the womb of tempests,⁠455
A giant arm burst forth, and dropt a sword
That pierc'd like lightning thro' the midnight air. ”

“ A warrior mark'd our distant taper's light.⁠350
We heapt the fire: the friendly board was spread:
The bowl of hospitality went round.
The storm beats hard," the stranger cried "safe hous'd
Pleasant it is to hear the pelting rain.
I too were well content to dwell in peace,⁠355
Resting my head upon the lap of Love,
But that my country calls. When the winds roar,
Remember sometimes what a soldier suffers,
And think of Conrade." ”

“ Crept murmuring thro' the wood, and many a flow'r
Drank on its side the genial sap of life.
The rich soil wasted not in worthless weeds
Its nurture; for Bizardo's patient hand⁠190
Cultur'd each healing and salubrious herb;
And every fruit that courts the summer sun
Bloom'd for the holy hermit's blameless food.
Oft would the sage exclaim "ah why should Man
Stern tyrant of the field, with blood pollute ⁠195
His festive board! ”

“ Calls on Bizardo's aid; he heard; our hands
Enwove the osier car; the cave receives
The senseless stranger.
⁠"O'er his couch I bent ⁠255
With pious vigilance and fearful hope,
Watching the wounded man till fugitive life
Dubious return'd. His eyes gazed wistful round
And e're again the heavy lids closed on them
Beam'd languid gratitude. Long time elapsed ⁠260
E're thro' his frame the temperate current roll'd
Of former strength: for deeply had he felt
The ruffian's sword, and distant many a league
Domremi lay the strangers native home. ”

“ The curling smoke rise slow: onward he speeds
Elate of heart. The watch dog with hoarse bark
Announc'd the coming guest; then, wild with joy
Soon as Remembrance spake his long-lov'd Lord,⁠320
Fawn'd on his feet and howl'd with ecstasy.
'Twas happiness indeed, one face of bliss
Shines thro' the house: the eager plough-man quits
The labouring team, for Theodore is come.
Fast down his mother's cheek roll'd the warm tear⁠325
Of transport, to her breast she claspt her child,
Long wept as one no more; nor me forgot,
But welcomed me even with a mother's smile. ”

“ Agricola quilibet, sponsam juvenem acquisitus, ac in vicinia alicujus viri nobilis & praepotentis habitans, crudelissime vexabatur. Nempe nonnunquam in ejus domum irruens iste optimas, magnâ comitante caterva, pretium ingens redemptionis exigeret, ac si non protinus solveret colonus, istum miserum in magna arca protrudens, venustæ ac teneræ uxori suæ (super ipsam arcam prostratæ) vim vir nobilis adferret; voce exclamans horrenda. ”

“ Holinshed, 549. ⁠Estouteville was Governor of Harfleur: the place was gallantly defended under him by Guitri Gaucour and others of the French nobility, but the garrison was weak, and the fortifications were in bad repair. ↑ Line 159—Some writing of this yeelding up of Harflue, doo in like sort make mention of the distresse whereto the people, then expelled out of their habitations were driven: insomuch as parents with their children, yong maids and old folke went out of the towne gates with heavie harts, (God wot) as put to their present shifts to seek them a new abode. ”

“ Mem. de Richemont. ↑ Line 438 Holinshed says speaking of the siege of Rouen "If I should rehearse how deerelie dogs rats mise and cats were sold within the towne, and how greedilie they were by the poore people eaten and devoured, and how the people dailie died for fault of food, and yoong infants laie sucking in the streets on their mothers' breasts, being dead starved for hunger—the reader might lament their extreme miseries. ”

“ JOAN discovers and heals him. They proceed to the King. Narrative of the Maid. She relates the capture of Harfleur, and the expulsion of the inhabitants by Henry the 5th. Her education with Bizardo. The annunciation of her mission and subsequent life. ”