XI.

When on their prey the falcons fly,
Triumphant the glad sportsmen cry ;—
And when transfixed the victims die,
Again their shouts resound.

The piercing sounds, the listening deer
In dark recesses startled hear;—

Aghast they stand;-then struck with fear,
From covert green they bound;—

Nor can the bristly boar repose,

Unmoved mid cries of mortal foes,

Though heard those cries from far;

Aroused he rolls his foaming eyes,
Indignant then the monster flies,

Growling defiance as he hies,—

To grind his tusks for war.

XII.

While thus the maid with curious eye,

Regards the cheerful view,

A scene occurs which draws the sigh
Of heartfelt grief and sympathy,
While tears of sensibility

Her lovely cheeks bedew ;

As dogs and men with clamorous cries,
Provoke the crouching game to rise,
The noisy vassals onward move
Towards a sweet sequestered grove,
From which unceasing shouts excite
A snow-white dove to wing its flight.
Sir Ralph Baldriston sees the prize,
And quick unhoods his falcon's eyes,
Which at the feeble quarry flies.
The dove avoids the fatal stroke,

And glides towards the fallen oak,

Near where the fair Edwina stood. Another falcon soaring high,

Cleaves rapid through the yielding sky,

Then stoops to drink the victim's blood;

K

But ere it gives the mortal blow,

The partner of its weal or woe,
Swift as the whirlwind flies;
And as the hawk descends to slay
Its trembling and resistless prey,
The faithful mate darts in its way,
Receives the shock, and dies.

XIII.

The maid's involuntary cry,
As she beheld with anxious eye
Thus fall the self-devoted bird,
Was by Sir Ralph Baldriston heard.
Amazed he hastens down the glade,
And there beholds the lovely maid,

Tears flowing from her eyes of blue; Sudden the baron checks his speed,

Reins in with powerful hand his steed, And stays the maid to view.

The sight his manly bosom moved

The more he gazed, the more he loved;
For never had a form so bright
As now appeared before his sight,
Met his transported ravished eye,
To cause such blissful ecstacy.
Her glossy locks of raven hue,
Moved by the gale dishevelled flew

In sportive ringlets falling low;—
And gentle Zephyr half revealed

What the thick tresses had concealed

The beauties of her breast of snow. And to the baron's ravished eyes,

A seraph from her native skies,

Th' angelic maid appears :
For surely nought can so combine

To make the mortal form divine,

And with such bright transcendence shine, As lovely woman's tears!

XIV.

While thus the baron gazing stood,

Through the transparent veins the blood

Rose mantling o'er the maiden's cheeks ;Concealing with bewitching grace,

Beneath her veil her glowing face,
Edwina hastens from the place,

And the paternal mansion seeks.

And now Sir Ralph's entrancement broke,
And now from reverie pleased he woke,

And now to his attendants spoke:

66

Say, know ye whence she came ?

"The maid who stood aside yon oak

"Know ye her lineage, state, or name ?" For answer, pauses he-ere long,

One from the close attending throng,

Gives the desired reply :—

"The Lord of all those fertile plains, "The forests, dells, and vast domains,

"That to the westward lie,