You remember Ellen, our hamlet’s pride,
      How meekly she blessed her humble lot,
    When the stranger, William, had made her his bride,
      And love was the light of their lowly cot. 
    Together they toiled through wind and rain
      Till William at length in sadness said,
    “We must seek our fortunes on other plains”;
      Then sighing she left her lowly shed.

    They roam’d a long and weary way,
      Nor much was the maiden’s heart at ease,
    When now, at close of one stormy day
      They see a proud castle among the trees. 
    “To night,” said the youth, “we’ll shelter there;
      The wind blows cold, the hour is late”;
    So he blew the horn with a chieftain’s air,
      And the porter bow’d as they pass’d the gate.

    “Now welcome, Lady!” exclaimed the youth;
      “This castle is thine, and these dark woods all.” 
    She believed him wild, but his words were truth,
      For Ellen is Lady of Rosna Hall! 
    And dearly the Lord of Rosna loves
      What William the stranger woo’d and wed;
    And the light of bliss in those lordly groves
      Is pure as it shone in the lowly shed.

But one of the most extraordinary instances of disguise was that of the Chevalier d’Eon, who was born in the year 1728, and was an excellent scholar, soldier, and political intriguer.  In the service of Louis XV., he went to Russia in female attire, obtained employment as the female reader to the Czarina Elizabeth, under which disguise he carried on political and semi-political negotiations with wonderful success.  In the year 1762, he appeared in England as Secretary of the Embassy to the Duke of Nivernois, and when Louis XVI. granted him a pension and he went over to Versailles to return thanks for the favour, Marie Antoinette is said to have insisted on his assuming women’s attire.  Accordingly, to gratify this foolish whim, D’Eon is reported to have one day swept into the royal presence attired like a duchess, which character he supported to the great delight of the royal spectators.

In the year 1794, he returned to this country, and, being here after the Revolution was accomplished, his name was placed in the fatal list of emigres, and he was deprived of his pension.  The English Government, however, gave him an allowance of L200 a year; and in his old days he turned his fencing capabilities to account, for he occasionally appeared in matches with the Chevalier de St. George, and permanently reassumed female attire.