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Thy vassals are prepared then?

Yes, they wait Thy summons to their task.

Keep the flame bright, But hidden, till its hour.—Wouldst thou dare, lady, To join our councils at the night's mid-watch, In the lone cavern by the rock-hewn cross?

What should I shrink from?

Oh! The forest-paths Are dim and wild, e'en when the sunshine streams Thro' their high arches: but when powerful night Comes, with her cloudy phantoms, and her pale Uncertain moonbeams, and the hollow sounds Of her mysterious winds; their aspect then Is of another and more fearful world; A realm of indistinct and shadowy forms, Wakening strange thoughts, almost too much for this, Our frail terrestrial nature.

Well I know All this, and more. Such scenes have been th' abodes Where thro' the silence of my soul have pass'd Voices, and visions from the sphere of those That have to die no more!—Nay, doubt it not! If such unearthly intercourse hath e'er Been granted to our nature, 'tis to hearts