The circumstance related in the following lines occurred during the American War. [1] no alteration or addition has been made to the story.
The guns have ceased their thunder! – dreadful pause –
Hark! twas the shout of conquest – & again!
Louder it rose. the flag of England floats
Triumphant: from their ranks the victors rush
They speed them to the spoil: – no human tongue
Hath told what followed. to the distant shores
Of England tidings came of victory;
She heard, & in her bloody annals wrote
One day of glory more. the conquerors deeds
A prudent silence veiled, yet one was wrought
That shall not be forgotten.
To their prey
They rushd in scattered troops from house to house.
A band of four at one were entering
When from the window came a female arm
And fired its only weapon; one fell dead,
The rest burst in & called with oaths for her
Who did the murder. She came forth & said
She was the murderer, & she askd for death –
A Woman – a young Woman, who that day
Had seen her brother slaughtered, whom that day
Had widowed.
They were men & Englishmen:
And they took counsel or to murder her
Or glut their lust amid t her agonies
And let her live polluted. There was one
Amid these ruffians to whom God had given
A heart that war & sociate wickedness
Had not corrupted quite. he drew his sword
And swore that should not be. – in after years
He told the tale; – aye with a bitterness
That made his eye look terrible, he told
How he had done thus much, & cursed himself,
For he stood by, stood patiently & saw
His comrades strip even her last garments off
Then spurn her forth all naked on the world.
[2]
Descriptive Fragment.
—— Every where
Nature is lovely; on the mountain height,
Or where the embosomed mountain glen displays
Secure sublimity, or where around
The undulated surface gently slopes
With mingled hill & valley, – every where
Nature is lovely. Even in scenes like these
Where not a hillock breaks the unvaried plain
The eye may find new charms that seeks delight.
At eve I walk abroad: the setting sun
Hath softened with a rich & mellow hue
The cool, fresh, air; below, a bright expanse,
The waters of the Broad lie luminous.
I gaze around – the unbounded plain presents
Ocean immensity, whose circling line
The bending heaven shuts in.
[3]
