XXXIX.

"Sit fast-dost fear?-The moon shines clear

Fleet goes my barb-keep hold!

Fear'st thou?"-"O no!" she faintly said;

"But why so stern and cold?

XL.

"What yonder rings? what yonder sings? Why shrieks the owlet gray ?'

""Tis death-bells' clang, 'tis funeral song, The body to the clay.

XLI.

"With song and clang, at morrow's dawn, Ye may inter the dead:

To-night I ride, with my young bride,

To deck our bridal bed.

XLII.

"Come with thy choir, thou coffin'd guest, To swell our nuptial song!

Come, priest, to bless our marriage feast!

Come all, come all along!"

XLIII.

Ceased clang and song; down sunk the bier;

The shrouded corpse arose:

And, hurry! hurry! all the train

The thundering steed pursues.

XLIV.

And, forward! forward! on they go;
High snorts the straining steed;
Thick pants the rider's labouring breath,
As headlong on they speed.

XLV.

"O William, why this savage haste?
And where thy bridal bed?".
""Tis distant far, low, damp, and chill,
And narrow, trustless maid."-

XLVI.

"No room for me?"-" Enough for both ;—
Speed, speed, my barb, thy course!".
O'er thundering bridge, through boiling surge,
He drove the furious horse.

XLVII.

Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode,
Splash! splash! along the sea;
The scourge is wight, the spur is bright,
The flashing pebbles flee.

XLVIII.

Fled past on right and left how fast
Each forest, grove, and bower!
On right and left fled past how fast
Each city, town, and tower!

XLIX.

"Dost fear? dost fear? The moon shines

clear,

Dost fear to ride with me?—

Hurrah! hurrah! the dead can ride!"

"O William, let them be!—

L.

"See there, see there ! What yonder swings And creaks 'mid whistling rain?""Gibbet and steel, th' accursed wheel; A murderer in his chain.—

LI.

"Hollo! thou felon, follow here:

To bridal bed we ride;

And thou shalt prance a fetter dance
Before me and my bride.”—

LII.

And, hurry! hurry! clash, clash, clash!
The wasted form descends;

And fleet as wind through hazel bush

The wild career attends.

LIII.

Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode,
Splash! splash! along the sea;

The scourge is red, the spur drops blood,
The flashing pebbles flee.

LIV.

How fled what moonshine faintly show'd!

How fled what darkness hid!

How fled the earth beneath their feet,
The heaven above their head!

LV.

"Dost fear? dost fear? The moon shines clear,

And well the dead can ride;

Does faithful Helen fear for them?".

"Barb! Barb! methinks I hear the cock; The sand will soon be run:

Barb! Barb! I smell the morning air;
The race is wellnigh done."-

LVII.

Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode,
Splash! splash! along the sea;

The scourge is red, the spur drops blood,
The flashing pebbles flee.

LVIII.

"Hurrah! hurrah! well ride the dead;
The bride, the bride is come e;
And soon we reach the bridal bed,

For, Helen, here's my home."

LIX.

Reluctant on its rusty hinge

Revolved an iron door,

And by the pale moon's setting beam
Were seen a church and tower.

LX.

With many a shriek and cry whiz round
The birds of midnight, scared;
And rustling like autumnal leaves
Unhallow'd ghosts were heard.

LXI.

O'er many a tomb and fombstone pale
He spurr'd the fiery horse,

Till sudden at an open grave

He check'd the wondrous course.

LXII.

The falling gauntlet quits the rein,
Down drops the casque of steel,
The cuirass leaves his shrinking side,
The spur his gory heel.

LXIII.

The eyes desert the naked skull,

The mould'ring flesh the bone,

Till Helen's lily arms entwine

A ghastly skeleton.