Bid them say good morrow
To the best-loved maid.

Through the forests wild,
O'er the mountains lonely,
They were never weary
Honour to pursue.
If the damsel smiled
Once in seven years only,
All their wanderings dreary
Ample guerdon knew.

Now one day's caprice
Weighs down years of smiling,
Youthful hearts are rovers,
Love is bought and sold:
Fortune's gifts may cease,
Love is less beguiling;
Wisest were the lovers
In the days of old.


The glance which she threw at the captain, as she sang the last
verse, awakened his dormant hopes. Looking round for his rival, he
saw that he was not in the hall; and, approaching the lady of his
heart, he received one of the sweetest smiles of their earlier
days.

After a time, the ladies, and all the females of the party,
retired. The males remained on duty with punch and wassail, and