CANTO FIRST. The Chase. ARP of the NORTH! that mouldering long hast hung Till envious ivy did around thee cling, Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon, Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd, 1 MS.-And on the fitful breeze thy numbers flung, D When lay of hopeless love, or glory won, Aroused the fearful, or subdued the proud. Thine ardent symphony sublime and high! O wake once more! how rude soe'er the hand 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! 1 MS.—At each according pause thou spokest aloud THE stag at eve had drunk his fill, But, when the sun his beacon red Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head, The deep-mouth'd blood-hound's heavy bay And faint, from farther distance borne, Were heard the clanging hoof and horn. II. As Chief, who hears his warder call, The dew-drops from his flanks he shook; A moment gazed adown the dale, A moment snuff'd the tainted gale, A moment listen'd to the cry, That thicken'd as the chase drew nigh; With one brave bound the copse he cleared 1 MS. The bloodhound's notes of heavy bass Resounded hoarsely up the pass. 2 La-var, as the name is pronounced, or more properly Uaighmor, is a mountain to the north-east of the village of Callander 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 III. Yell'd on the view the opening pack ; On the lone wood and mighty hill. 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 it 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 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. |