XIV.
This said, he turned and hastily withdrew,
And all but Williams now were left in tears;
His wife, still comely, lost her blooming hue,
Her nature yielding to her rising fears;
A giddy whirling passed her senses through,
She almost heard the blazing musketeers,
And trembling to her couch retired to sigh,
And seek relief in prayer to God on high.
XV.
"O! for a friend," still as he paced the floor,
Sire Williams cried, "a friend in my sore need,
To help me now some hidden way explore,
By which my glorious purpose may succeed;
But closed to-night is every cottage door;
Yet there is one who is a friend indeed,
Forever present to the meek and poor—
I will thy counsels, mighty Lord, implore."
XVI.
Here dropt the friend of conscience on his knees,
And prayed, with hand and heart to Heaven upreared;
"O, thou, the God who parted Egypt's seas,
And cloud or fire in Israel's van appeared,
Send down thine angel now, if so it please,
That forth from Church within the State ensphered
He guide my steps, to where there yet may be
A Church not ruled by men, but ruled by Thee."
XVII.
Our Father ceased.—The tempest roared around
With double fury at this moment drear,
The cottage trembled, and the very ground
Did seem to feel the element's career;
