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

40 THE LORD OF THE ISLES. [CANTO I.
The hostile fleet,' the unequal fray,
So safely hold our vessel's way
Beneath the Castle wall;
For if a hope of safety rest,'Tis on the sacred name of guest,
Who seeks for shelter, storm-distress'd,
Within a chieftain's hall.
If not-it best beseems our worth,
Our name, our right, our lofty birth,
By noble hands to fall."
XXI.
The helr, to his strong arm consign'd,
Gave the reef'd sail to meet the wind,
And on her alter'd way,
Fierce bounding, forward sprung the ship,
Like greyhound starting from the slip
To seize his flying prey.
Awaked before the rushing prow,
The mimic fires of ocean glow,
Those lightnings of the wave; 2
I[MS. " the hostile power."]
2 The phenomenon called by sailors Sea-fire, is one of the
most beautiful and interesting which is witnessed in the
Hebrides. At times the ocean appears entirely illuminated
around the vessel, and a long train of lambent coruscations
are perpetually bursting upon the sides of the vessel, or pursuing her wake through the darkness. These phosphoric
appearances, concerning the origin of which naturalists are
not agreed in opinion, seem to be called into action by the
rapid motion of the ship through the water, and are probably