And when she speaks, each thrilling tone is fraught
With sweetness, born of high and heavenly thought.
And he, to whom are breath'd her vows of faith
Is brave, and noble—Child of high descent,
He hath stood fearless in the ranks of death,
'Mid slaughtered heaps, the warrior's monument:
And proudly marshalled his Carroccio's*[1] way,
Amidst the wildest wreck of war's array.
And his the chivalrous, commanding mien,
Where high-born grandeur blends with courtly grace;
Yet may a lightning glance at times be seen,
Of fiery passions, darting o'er his face,
And fierce the spirit kindling in his eye,—
But e'en while yet we gaze, its quick, wild flashes die.
- ↑
* See the description of this sort of consecrated war-chariot in Sismondi's Histoire des Republiques Italiennes, &c. Vol. I. p. 394.
