Classic Poem

Here rudely on her plea Rodolphus broke,
And all inflamed, and interrupting, spoke:
" List not, O King, to that bewitching tongue!
" So sweetly false the tempting Syrens sung;
" Her words would give the knotted oak an ear,
" And charm the moon from her enchanted sphere,
" That by her hand our dear relation bled,
" This sword shall witness on her guilty head,
" Whatever champion, or bold odds oppose,
" And, arm'd by justice, dare a thousand foes:
" Then be her purity by combat tried;
" And by the conquering arm let Heaven decide.

" Alas, O A LLA ! " cried the trembling Maid,
" My sex, not arms but innocence must aid.
" Helpless I stand, and distant every friend,
" That has the power, or courage to defend.
" If justice is ordain'd to crown the strong,
" Then the weak arm is ever in the wrong;
" The hawk may triumph in his lawless deeds,
" While doom'd beneath his gripe the turtle bleeds.
" Yet that I'm guiltless, even my charge admits,
" And malice, meaning to arraign, acquits:
" What tho' the sword lay treacherous at my side?
" Sure, guilt could never want the craft to hide!
" The spots of bloody circumstance explain,
" That inward truth fears no exterior stain;
" And last my capture with the stain implies,
" That guilt, not Innocence, from vengeance flies.
" I fear not death, but that surviving shame,
" Which must to ages blast my spotless name —
" Be that from taint of guilty censure freed,
" And all that malice can inflict, decreed! "

Thus while she spake, with secret passion tost,
And in a world of new found wonders lost,
Scarce A LLA could his struggling heart controul:
Fix'd were his eyes, but restless was his soul;
His breast with various agitation burn'd;
Now pale, now red, his varying aspect turn'd:
Her accents dwell upon his listening ears;
When now she ceased, delighted still he hears;
Her form with changed with feverish look surveys,
And could for ever hear, for ever gaze.

At length collected, as from bonds he broke,
And with cold speech, and feign'd indifference, spoke:
" Thy charge, bright Maid! my secret soul acquits;
" But public law no private voice admits:
" Kings sit not here, with arbitrary sense
" To form new laws, or cavil, but dispense;
" Though law is fallible, yet law should sway,
" And kings, more fallible than law, obey.
" Say, gallant warriors! who, unmatch'd in arms,
" May yield uncensured to resistless charms;
" Say, is there one, who, singularly brave,
" At his own peril greatly dares to save;
" From pain, from death, from slander, to defend,
" And give the Stranger, and the Fair, a friend? "

The Hero said; but mute was every tongue,
Blank every face, and every nerve unstrung;
So much Rodolphus, never match'd in arms,
Each weaker hand and conscious heart alarms;
So was the giant famed for brutal power,
Strode like an arch, and menaced like a tower!