Spouter's companion/Alonzo the Brave

ALONZO THE BRAVE.

A warrior so bold, and virgin so bright,
Conven'd as they sat on the green;
They gaz'd on each other with tender delight,
Alonzo the Brave was the name of the knight,
The maid was the Fair Imogene.

"And ah," said the youth, "since to-morrow I go
To fight in a far distant land;
Your tears for my absence soon ceasing to flow,
Some other will court you, and you will bestow
On a wealthier suitor your hand."

"Oh, hush these suspicions," fair Imogene said,
"So hurtful to love and to me;
For if you be living, or if you be dead,
I swear by the Virgin, that none in your stead
Shall husband of Imogene be.

"And, if e'er for another my heart should decide,
Forgetting Alonzo the Brave,
God grant, that to punish my falsehood and pride,
Thy ghost at my marriage may sit by my side,
May tax me with perjury, claim me as bride,
And bear me away to the grave."

To Palestine hasten'd the warrior so bold,
His love she lamented him sore;
But scarce had a twelvemonth elaps'd, when, be-hold,
A baron, all cover'd with jewels and gold,
Arriv'd at fair Imogene's door.

His treasure, his presents, his spacious domain,
Soon made her untrue to her vows;
He dazzl'd her eyes, he bewilder'd her brain,
He caught her affections, so light and so vain,
And carried her home as his spouse.

And now had the marriage been blest by the priest,
The revelry now was begun;
The tables they groan'd with the weight of the feast,
Not yet had the laughter and merriment ceas'd
When the bell of the castle toll'd—ONE!

'Twas then, with amazement, fair Imogene found
A stranger was plac'd by her side;
His air was terrific, he utter'd no sound,
He spoke not, he mov'd not, he look'd not around,
But earnestly gaz'd on the bride.

His vizor was clos'd, and gigantic his height,
His armour was sable to view;
All laughter and pleasure were hush'd at his sight,
The dogs, as they ey'd him, drew back with affright,
And the lights in the chamber burnt blue.

His presence all bosoms appear'd to dismay,
The guests sat in silence and fear;
At length, spoke the bride, while she trembled—" I pray
Sir Knight, that your helmet aside you would lay,
And deign to partake of our cheer."

The lady is silent—the stranger complies,
And his vizor he slowly unclos'd—

O Gods, what a sight met Imogene's eyes;
What words can express her dismay and surprise,
When a skeleton's head was exposed.

All present then utter'd a terrified shout,
And turn'd with disgust from the scene;
The worms they crept in, and the worms they crept out,
And sported his eyes and temples about,
While the spectre address'd Imogene:

"Behold me, thou false one, behold me," he cried,
"Behold thy Alonzo tho Brave;
God grants, that to punish thy falsehood and pride,
My ghost at thy marriage should sit by thy side,
Should tax thee with perjury, claim thee as bride,
And bear thee away to the grave."

This saying, his arms round the lady he wound,
While fair Imogene shriek'd with dismay;
Then sunk with his prey through the wide-yawning ground,
Nor ever again was fair Imogene found,
Or the spectre that bore her away.

Not long liv'd the baron, and none, since that time,
To inhabit the castle presume;
For chronicles tell, that by orders sublimo,
There Imogene suffers tho pain of her crime,
And mourns her deplorable doom.

At midnight four times in each year does her sprite,
When mortals in slumber are bound,
Array'd in her bridal apparel of white,
Appear in the hall with her skeleton knight,

And shrieks as he whirls her around.

While they drink out of sculls newly torn from the grave,
Dancing round them pale spectres are seen;
Their liquor is blood, and this horrible stave
They howl, "To the health of Alonzo the Brave,
And his consort, the false Imogene."