Some feast, or village wake, or sprightly dance,

Urging her still to bear them company.

She lov'd to give them pleasure, and one time

(The fav'rite legend of our country folk

Hath oft the tale repeated) as they mix'd

Carelessly in the crowd, remember'd notes

Struck by a harper in a distant tent,

Sweet and soul-piercing as the midnight songs

Which are, they say, the harbingers of death,

Flow'd on her ear—when, with impulsive spring,