Till the slumberers woke in dread;—
The sound of a passing armament,
With the charger’s stony tread.
There was heard no trumpet’s peal,
But the heavy tramp of steel,
As a host’s to combat led.
Through the dark and lonely streets it pass’d,
And the hollow pavement rang,
And the towers, as with a sweeping blast,
Rock’d to the stormy clang!