Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/183

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BOOK THE FIFTH.
171
No more the aged matron at her doorHumm'd cheery to her spinning wheel, and mark'd Her children dancing to the roundelay.It was a hurried, melancholy scene! 245The chieftains strengthening still the massy walls,Survey them with the prying eye of fear.The eager youth in dreadful preparationStrive in the mimic war. Silent and sternThey urge with fearful haste their gloomy work. 250All day the armourer's busy beat was heard,All night it sounded. In the city dweltSuch a dead silence of all pleasant sounds,As in the forest when the lowering cloudsMeet, and the deep and hollow wind is heard 255That omens tempest: trembles to its voiceThe grove, and casts a darker gloom around."
 "At length the foe approach. The watchman soundsHis dreadful warning. From the lofty tower Of old cathedral I beheld the scene. 260

"Trembling

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