IX.

A cherry-coloured riband from her head, Which used to bind and float beneath her hair, With trembling hand she loosed, and o’er it spread A golden curl of William’s, tied it there In fashion of a cross, and with this prayer Consigned it to her bosom: “Empress-Queen “Of Heaven, Immaculate Virgin! Spare, oh, spare “His life. _Mi Madre_, on Isaro’s green “Thy shrine shall have a crown as fair as e’er was seen.”