And piercing cry; and the low feeble wail

Of dying infants; and the half-suppress’d

Deep groan of man in his last agonies!

And, now and then, there swell’d upon the breeze

Strange, savage bursts of laughter, wilder far

Than all the rest.

1st Cit. Of our own fate, perchance,

These awful midnight wailings may be deem’d

An ominous prophecy. Should France regain

Her power among us, doubt not, we shall have