The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott ... Notes & life of the author.

4-18 ROKEBY. CANTO 1L
Twice from my glance it seem'd to flee
And shroud itself by cliff or tree.
How think'st thou?-Is our path way-laid?
Or hath thy sire my trust betray'd?
If so"-Ere, starting from his dream,
That turn'd upon a gentler theme,
Wilfrid had rous'd him to reply,
Bertram sprung forward, shouting high,
"Whate'er thou art, thou now shalt staurl.'
And forth he darted, sword in hand.
XIV.
As bursts the levin in its wrath,
He shot him down the sounding path;
Rock, wood, and stream, rang wildly out,
To his loud step and savage shout.
Seems that the object of his race
iath scal'd the cliffs; his frantic chase
Sidelong he turns, and now'tis bent
Right up the rock's tall battlement;
Straining each sinew to ascend,
Foot, hand, and knee, their aid must len(d
Wilfrid, all dizzy with dismay,
Views, from beneath, his dreadful way:
Now to the oak's warp'd roots he clings,
Now trusts his weight to ivy strings;
Now, like the wild goat, mus he dare
An unsupported leap in air;
Hid in the shrubby rain-course now,
You mark him by the crashing bough,
And by his conlet's sullen clank,
And by the stones spurn'd from the bal.
And by the hawk scar'd from her ntesL
And ravens croaking o'er their guest
Who deem his forfeit limbs shall pay
The tribute of his bold essay.
XV.
See, he emerges —desp'rate now
All farther course —Yon beetling brow,
In craggy nakedness sublime,
What heart or foot shall dare to climb?
It bears no tendril for his clasp,
Presents no angle to his grasp:
Sole stay his foot may rest upon,
Is yon earth-bedded jetting stone.