"
"Oh, beautiful boy! wilt thou come with me!--say!
My daughters are waiting to join thee at play!
In their arms they shall bear thee through all the dark night--
They shall dance, they shall sing thee to slumber so light?"
"My father! oh, father! and dost thou not see
Where the Erl-king's daughters are waiting for me?"
"My child! 'tis no phantom! I see it now plain;
'Tis but the grey willow that waves in the rain."
"Thy sweet face hath charmed me! I love thee, my joy!
And com'st thou not willing, I'll seize thee, fair boy!"
"Oh, father! dear father! his touch is so cold!
He grasps me! I cannot escape from his hold!"
Sore trembled the father, he spurs through the wild,
And folds yet more closely his terrified child;
He reaches his own gate in darkness and dread--
Alas! in his arms lay the fair child--dead!
THOUGHTS UPON FENELON.
BY THE REV. SAMUEL OSGOOD, D.D.
Fenelon died at Cambray, January 7, 1715, aged 64, some years after the
death of Bossuet, his antagonist, and shortly before the death of his
royal patron and persecutor, Louis XIV. The conscience of Christendom has
already judged between the two parties.
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