Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/90

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Shame—shame to manThat he should trust so easily the tongueThat stabs another's fame! the ill reportWas heard, repeated, and believed,—and soon,For Hamuel by most damned artificeProduced such semblances of guilt, the MaidWas judged to shameful death.Without the wallsThere was a barren field; a place abhorr'd,For it was there where wretched criminalsWere done to die; and there they built the stake,And piled the fuel round, that should consumeThe accused Maid, abandon'd, as it seem'd,By God and man. The assembled BethlemitesBeheld the scene, and when they saw the MaidBound to the stake, with what calm holinessShe lifted up her patient looks to Heaven,They doubted of her guilt. With other thoughtsStood Hamuel near the pile, him savage joyLed thitherward, but now within his heart
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