THE LADY OF THE LAKE.

Canto first.

The Chase.

Harp of the North! that mouldering long hast hung
   On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan’s spring
And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung,
   Till envious ivy did around thee cling,
Muffling with verdant ringlet every string,—­
   O Minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep? 
Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring,
   Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep,
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep?

Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon,
   Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd,
When lay of hopeless love, or glory won,
   Aroused the fearful or subdued the proud. 
At each according pause was heard aloud
   Thine ardent symphony sublime and high! 
Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bowed;
   For still the burden of thy minstrelsy
Was Knighthood’s dauntless deed, and Beauty’s matchless eye.

O, wake once more! how rude soe’er the hand
   That ventures o’er thy magic maze to stray;
O, wake once more! though scarce my skill command
   Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay: 
Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away,
   And all unworthy of thy nobler strain,
Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway,
   The wizard note has not been touched in vain. 
Then silent be no more!  Enchantress, wake again!

I.

The stag at eve had drunk his fill,
Where danced the moon on Monan’s rill,
And deep his midnight lair had made
In lone Glenartney’s hazel shade;
But when the sun his beacon red
Had kindled on Benvoirlich’s head,
The deep-mouthed bloodhound’s heavy bay
Resounded up the rocky way,
And faint, from farther distance borne,
Were heard the clanging hoof and horn.

II.

As Chief, who hears his warder call,
‘To arms! the foemen storm the wall,’
The antlered monarch of the waste
Sprung from his heathery couch in haste. 
But ere his fleet career he took,
The dew-drops from his flanks he shook;
Like crested leader proud and high
Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky;
A moment gazed adown the dale,
A moment snuffed the tainted gale,
A moment listened to the cry,
That thickened as the chase drew nigh;
Then, as the headmost foes appeared,
With one brave bound the copse he cleared,
And, stretching forward free and far,
Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.

III.