23 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. CANTO FIRST. THE CHASE. HARP of the North! that mouldering long hast hung Muffling with verdant ringlet every string,― O minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep? 'Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring, Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep, Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep? Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon, Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd, When lay of hopeless love, or glory won, Aroused the fearful, or subdued the proud. At each according pause, was heard aloud Thine ardent symphony sublime and high! Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bow'd; For still the burden of thy minstrelsy Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and Beauty's match less eye. O wake once more! how rude soe'er the hand That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray; O wake once more! though scarce my skill command Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay: Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away, And all unworthy of thy nobler strain, Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway The wizard note has not been touch'd in vain. Then silent be no more! Enchantress, wake again! L. THE stag at eve had drunk his fill, And faint, from farther distance borne, II. As Chief, who hears his warder call, 1 A moment gazed adown the dale, A moment snuff'd the tainted gale, That thicken'd as the chase drew nigh; III. Yell'd on the view the opening pack; 1 Ua-var, as the name is pronounced, or more properly Uaigh mor, is a mountain to the north-east of the village of Callender in Menteith, deriving its name, which signifies the great den, or cavern, from a sort of retreat among the rocks on the south side, said, by tradition, to have been the abode of a giant. In latter times, it was the refuge of robbers and banditti, who have been only extirpated within these forty or fifty years. Strictly speaking, this stronghold is not a cave, as the name would imply, but a sort of small enclosure, or recess, surrounded with large rocks, and open above head. It may have been originally designed as a toil for deer, who might get in from the outside, but would find 't difficult to return. This opinion prevails among the old sportsmen and deer-stalkers in the neighbourhood. '[Benvoirlich, a mountain comprehended in the cluster of the VOL. III. -3 Far from the tumult fled the roe, IV. Less loud the sounds of sylvan war For ere that steep ascent was won, V. The noble stag was pausing now, Grampians, at the head of the valley of the Garry, a river which springs from its base. It rises to an elevation of 3330 feet above the level of the sea. a.] |