Soft twilight[347] ever ’mong the trees,

Strange music stirred, and on the breeze

Of evening came wild shouts of mirth,[348]

That seemed to wake the very earth,[349]

So boisterous were they, and, alas!

The youths could not a moment pass

Till they with stealthy steps were brought

Close to that God-forbidden spot;

And there, as o’er a lofty brow

That hemmed the darksome glade, they now