An adieu died upon her lips; but she resolutely refused any
further communication. Hastening to the courtyard, she mounted her
little white palfry, and quitted for ever those fascinating and
dangerous allurements, which, having once felt, few have had the power
to withstand.
We need scarcely add, that, amid the gaieties and splendours by which
the lover was enthralled, the recollection of Grace Gerard sometimes
mingled in the revelries of this votary of pleasure. It often came as a
warning and a rebuke. By degrees the impression grew less powerful. Each
succeeding wave from the ever-tossing ocean left the traces less
distinct, until they were overwhelmed in the dull tide of oblivion.
NOTE ON THE BALLAD, p. 269.
The _music_ to these words is _traditionary_, if we may be allowed the
expression. It is one of the many wild and characteristic melodies
floating about, perhaps unappropriated, on the popular breath, varied
indefinitely according to the humour of the performer. The author has
listened to several of these ditties; some of them he thinks peculiar to
this and the neighbouring counties. They are generally sung by the
labouring classes, and would, in many cases, defy any attempt to commit
them to writing, being apparently founded upon a ratio of tones and
semitones at variance with our diatonic scale.
Pages:
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579