A minute past, and she had been all tears,

And tenderness, and infancy; but now

She stood as one who championed human fears—

Pale, statue-like, and stern, she wooed the blow;

And tall beyond her sex, and their compeers,

She drew up to her height, as if to show

A fairer mark; and with a fixed eye scanned

Her Father's face—but never stopped his hand.