The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott, with memoir of the author.

82 ROKEIBY. [CANTO II.
Broad shadows o'er their passage fell,
Deeper and narrower grew the dell;
It seem'd some mountain, rent and riven,
A channel for the stream had given,
So high the cliffs of limestone gray
Hung beetling o'er the torrent's way,
Yielding, along their rugged base,1
A flinty footpath's niggard space,
Where he, who winds'twixt rock and wave,
May hear the headlong torrent rave,
And like a steed in frantic fit,
That flings the froth from curb and bit,2
May view her chafe her waves to spray,
O'er every rock that bars her way,
Till foam-globes on her eddies ride,
Thick as the schemes of human pride
That down life's current drive amain,
As'frail, as frothy, and as vain!
But whether she was slain by a jealous husband, or by savage banditti, or by an uncle who coveted her estate, or by a
rejected lover, are points upon which the traditions of Rokeby
do not enable us to decide.
1 [MS.-" Yielding their rugged base beside
A nigard } path by Greta's tide."]
2 [MS.-" That flings thefoam from curb and bit,
{ tawny
Chafing her waves to whiten wrath,
spungy
O'er every rock that bars her path,
Till down her boiling eddies ride," &c.]