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

~3o KxEy, CAN~TO UL
Man, only, mars kind Nature's plan,
And turns the fierce pursuit on man;
Plying war's desultory trade,
Incursion, flight, and ambuscade,Since Nimrod, Cush's mighty son,
At first the bloody game begun.
IL
The Indian, prowling for his prey,
Who hears thesettlers track his way,
And knows in distant forest far
Camp his red brethren of the war;
HIe, when each double and disguise
To baffle the pursuit he tries,
Low crouching now his head to hide,
Where swampy streams through rushes glids.
Now covering with the wither'd leaves
The foot-prints that the dew receives;
Hie, skill'd in every silvan guile,
Knows not, nor tries, such various wile,
As Risingham, when on the wind
Arose the loud pursuit behind.
In Redesdale his youth had heard
Each art her wily dalesmen dar'd,
When Rooken-edge, and Redswair high,
To bugle rung and blood-hound's cry,
Announcing Jedwood-axe and spear,
And Lid'sdale riders in the rear;
And well his venterous life had prov'd
The lessons that his childhood lov'd.
IlL
Oft had he shown, in climes afar,
Each attribute of roving war;'I he sharpen'd ear, the piercing eye,
The quick resolve in danger nigh;
The speed, that in the flight or chase,
Outstripped the Charib's rapid race;
The steady brain; the sinewy limb,
To leap, to climb, to dive, to swim;
The iron frame, inured to bear
Each dire inclemency of air,
Nor less confirmed to undergo
Fatigue's faint chill and famine's tire.