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

556 T1E WILD FUETSES.,
And horse, and minan, and horn, and hound,
And clamour of the chase, was gone;
For hoofs, and howls, and bugle sound,
A deadly silence reign'd alone.
Wild gaz'd the affrighted Earl around;
He strove in v ain to wake his horn,
In vain to call; for not a sound
Could from his anxious lips be borne.
lie listens for his trusty hounds;
No distant baying reach'd his ears:
His courser, rooted to the ground,
The quick'ning spur unmindful bears
Still dark, and darker frown the shades,
Dark, as the darkness of the grave;
Amd not a sound the still invades,
Save what a distant torrent gave,
High o'er the sinner's humbl'd head
At length the solemn silence broke;
And, from a cloud of swarthy red,
The awful voice of thunder spoke,
"Oppressor of creation fair!
Apostate Spirits' harden'd tool!
Scorner of God! Scourge of the poorl
The measure of thy cup is full.
-' Be chas'd for ever through the wood;
For ever roam the affrighted.wild;
And let thy- fate instruct the proud,
God's meanest creature is his child."-'Twas hush'd: One flash, of sombre glare,
With yellow ting'd the forests brown;
Up rose the Wildgrave's bristling hair,
And horror chill'd each nerve and bone.
Cold pour'd the sweat in freezing ill;
A rising wind began to sing;
And louder, louder, louder still,
Brought storm and tempest on its wing.
Earth heard the call;- her entrails rend;
From -yawning rifts, with many a yell,
Mix'd with sulphureous flames, ascend
The misbegotten dogs of hell
What ghastly Huntsman next arose,
Well may I gaus, but dare not tell;