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XL.

"What yonder rings? what yonder sings? Why shrieks the owlet grey?"

"'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 shall 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?"

"O leave in peace the dead!”—

LVI.

"Barb! Barb! methinks I hear the cock;

The sand will soon be run:

Barb Barb! I smell the morning air;

The race is well-nigh done.'

LVII.

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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;
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 tombstone pale
He spurr'd the fiery horse,
Till sudden at an open grave

He checked 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.

LXIV.

The furious barb snorts fire and foam,
And with a fearful bound,

Dissolves at once in empty air,

And leaves her on the ground.

LXV.

Half seen by fits, by fits half heard,
Pale spectres flit along,

Wheel round the maid in dismal dance,
And howl the funeral song:

LXVI.

"E'en when the heart's with anguish cleft,

Revere the doom of Heaven.
Her soul is from her bodg reft;

Her spirit be forgiven!"

THE WILD HUNTSMAN.

(This is a translation, or rather an imitation, of the Wilde Jäger of the German poet Bürger.)

THE Wildgrave winds his bugle horn,

To horse, to horse! halloo, halloo !

His fiery courser snuffs the morn,

And thronging serfs their lord pursue.

The eager pack, from couples freed,

Dash through the brush, the briar, the brake: While answering hound, and horn, and steed, The mountain echoes startling wake.

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