t upon her cheek
Spreads forth its purple hues,--
And agitation seems to speak
What conscience dares refuse!

To Him who gives life's fleeting breath
His soul has ta'en its flight!--
He sleeps the last long sleep of death
Upon his bridal night.

His guards were gone;--no friends were near
To bless him ere he died!
None, none to dry the falling tear,
Or bid his pains subside.

Oh! where is she whom fate hath made
Dejected and forlorn?
She goes to Croyland's hallow'd shade,
To live--alas!--to mourn!

Weep, Anglia, weep!--thy monarch's dead!
To heav'n his spirit's flown;
And he whose hands his blood have shed
Will mount thy vacant throne.

He reigns!--but mark! how self-reproach
Pervades his inmost breast;--
And pangs of sad remorse encroach
Upon his fever'd rest.

He lives--but life has little left,
If aught, his love to claim;
Of all, save grief, 'tis now bereft;
To him 'tis but a name!

J.H.I.

The event which the foregoing stanzas have attempted to describe laid
the foundation of the future importance and prosperity of the
Cathedral church of Hereford.

"The restless ambition of Offa prompted him to attack the neighbouring
kingdom of the East Angles, with a view of adding it to his dominions;
but in this attempt he was defeated by the successful valour of
Ethelbert. Peace being subsequently concluded, Offa acceded to
proposals of marriage between Ethelbert and his daughter Elfrida;--and
the young and unsuspecting prince attended, invited, at the palace of
Offa (at South Town, now Sutton, near Hereford), with a splendid
retinue, to treat of the intended spousals. The queen of Offa,
Quendreda, is recorded to have prevailed upon her husband to violate
the ties of hospitality and humanity; and Ethelbert was treacherously
murdered, A.D. 793. His guards and retinue were dispersed; his
kingdom, taken by surprise, was annexed to the state of Mercia. The
faithful Elfrida retired to Croyland Abbey; and Offa, seized with
remorse, sought to appease his wounded conscience by actions which, at
that time, were thought to atone for the deepest delinquency. He
caused the body of Ethelbert to be removed from Marden, where it had
been previously interred, to the cathedral of St. Mary, at Hereford,
erecting over him a magnificent tomb, and endowing the church with
valuable gifts, chiefly situated in the immediate vicinity of his own
p