The following poem, meant as some record of her fate, and the imagined fluctuations of her thoughts and feelings, is supposed to commence during the time of her first imprisonment, whilst her mind was yet buoyed up by the consciousness of Seymour’s affection, and the cherished hope of eventual deliverance.]
“And is not love in vain
Torture enough without a living tomb?” Byron.
“Fermossi al fin il cor che balzo tanto.” Pindemonte.
I.
Twas but a dream! I saw the stag leap free,
Under the boughs where early birds were singing;
I stood o’ershadow’d by the greenwood tree,
And heard, it seem’d, a sudden bugle ringing
Far through a royal forest. Then the fawn