XXIX.

Up to the cope careering swift,
In breathless motion fast,
Fleet as the swallow cuts the drift,
Or the sea-roc rides the blast,
The sapphire sheet of eve is shot,
The sphered moon is past,
The earth but seems a tiny blot

On a sheet of azure cast.

Oh! it was sweet, in the clear moonlight,
To tread the starry plain of even!
To meet the thousand eyes of night,

And feel the cooling breath of heaven! But the elfin made no stop or stay

Till he came to the bank of the milky-way; Then he checked his courser's foot,

Her hair is like the sunny beam,

And the diamond gems which round it gleau
Are the pure drops of dewy even
That ne'er have left their native heaven.

XXXII.

She raised her eyes to the wondering sprite, And they leaped with smiles; for well 1

ween

Never before in the bowers of light

Had the form of an earthly fay been seen. Long she looked in his tiny face;

Long with his butterfly cloak she played; She smoothed his wings of azure lace,

And handled the tassel of his blade; And as he told, in accents low,

shoot.

XXX.

Sudden along the snowy tide

That swelled to meet their footsteps' fall, The sylphs of heaven were seen to glide, Attired in sunset's crimson pall; Around the fay they weave the dance,

They skip before him on the plain,
And one has taken his wasp-sting lance,
And one upholds his bridle-rein;
With warblings wild they lead him on
To where, through clouds of amber seen,
Studded with stars, resplendent shone

The palace of the sylphid queen.
Its spiral columns, gleaming bright,
Were streamers of the northern light;
Its curtain's light and lovely flush
Was of the morning's rosy blush;
And the ceiling fair that rose aboon,
The white and feathery fleece of noon.

XXXI.

But, oh! how fair the shape that lay
Beneath a rainbow bending bright:
She seemed to the entranced fay

The loveliest of the forms of light;
Her mantle was the purple rolled

At twilight in the west afar;

T was tied with threads of dawning gold, And buttoned with a sparkling star. Her face was like the lily roon

That veils the vestal planet's hue; Her eyes, two beamlets from the moon, Set floating in the welkin blue.

She felt new pains in her bosom rise,
And the tear-drop started in her eyes.
And "O, sweet spirit of earth," she cried,
"Return no more to your woodland height
But ever here with me abide

In the land of everlasting light!
Within the fleecy drift we 'll lie,

We'll hang upon the rainbow's rim; And all the jewels of the sky

Around thy brow shall brightly beam! And thou shalt bathe thee in the stream That rolls its whitening foam aboon, And ride upon the lightning's gleam,

And dance upon the orbed moon! We'll sit within the Pleiad ring,

We'll rest on Orion's starry belt, And I will bid my sylphs to sing

The song that makes the dew-mist melt; Their harps are of the umber shade

That hides the blush of waking day, And every gleamy string is made

Of silvery moonshine's lengthened ray; And thou shalt pillow on my breast,

While heavenly breathings float around And, with the sylphs of ether blest,

Forget the joys of fairy ground."

XXXIII.

She was lovely and fair to see
And the elfin's heart beat fitfully;
But lovelier far, and still more fair,
The earthly form imprinted there;
Naught he saw in the heavens above
Was half so dear as his mortal love,

For he thought upon her looks so meek, And he thought of the light flush on her cheek;

Never again might he bask and lie

On that sweet cheek and moonlight eye;
But in his dreams her form to see,
To clasp her in his revery,

To think upon his virgin bride,

Was worth all heaven, and earth beside.

XXXIV.

"Lady," he cried, "I have sworn to-night,
On the word of a fairy-knight,
fo do my sentence-task aright;
My honor scarce is free from stain-
I may not soil its snows again;
Betide me weal, betide me woe,
Its mandate must be answered now."
Her bosom heaved with many a sigh,
The tear was in her drooping eye;
But she led him to the palace gate,

And called the sylphs who hovered there,
And bade them fly and bring him straight,
Of clouds condensed, a sable car.
With charm and spell she blessed it there,
From all the fiends of upper air;
Then round him cast the shadowy shroud,
And tied his steed behind the cloud;
And pressed his hand as she bade him fly
Far to the verge of the northern sky,
For by its wane and wavering light
There was a star would fall to-night.

XXXV.

Borne afar on the wings of the blast,
Northward away, he speeds him fast,
And his courser follows the cloudy wain
Till the hoof-strokes fall like pattering rain.
The clouds roll backward as he flies,
Each flickering star behind him lies,
And he has reached the northern plain,
And backed his fire-fly steed again,
Ready to follow in its flight
The streaming of the rocket-light.

XXXVI.

The star is yet in the vault of heaven,

But it rocks in the summer gale; And now 't is fitful and uneven, And now 't is deadly pale;

And now 't is wrapped in sulphur-smoke,
And quenched is its rayless beam;
And now with a rattling thunder-stroke
It bursts in flash and flame.

As swift as the glance of the arrowy lance
That the storm-spirit flings from high,
The star-shot flew o'er the welkin blue,
As it fell from the sheeted sky.

As swift as the wind in its train behind
The elfin gallops along :

549

The fiends of the clouds are bellowing loud,
But the sylphid charm is strong;
He gallops unhurt in the shower of fire,

While the cloud-fiends fly from the blaze; He watches each flake till its sparks expire, And rides in the light of its rays.

But he drove his steed to the lightning' speed,

And caught a glimmering spark; Then wheeled around to the fairy ground, And sped through the midnight dark.

Ouphe and goblin! imp and sprite!

Elf of eve! and starry fay! Ye that love the moon's soft light, Hither-hither wend your way; Twine ye in a jocund ring,

Sing and trip it merrily, Hand to hand, and wing to wing, Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

Hail the wanderer again

With dance and song, and lute and lyre; Pure his wing and strong his chain,

And doubly bright his fairy fire. Twine ye in an airy round,

Brush the dew and print the lea; Skip and gambol, hop and bound, Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

The beetle guards our holy ground,
He flies about the haunted place,
And if mortal there be found,

He hums in his ears and flaps his face ; The leaf-harp sounds our roundelay,

The owlet's eyes our lanterns be; Thus we sing, and dance, and play, Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

55]

At morning and at evening both
You merry were and glad;
So little care of sleepe and sloth

These prettie ladies had.

When Tom came home from labor,

Or Ciss to milking rose,

Then merrily went their tabour,
And nimbly went their toes.

Witness, those rings and roundelayes
Of theirs, which yet remaine,
Were footed in Queen Marie's dayes
On many a grassy playne.
But since of late Elizabeth,

And later James, came in
They never danced on any heath
As when the time hath bin.

By which wee note the fairies
Were of the old profession;
Their songs were Ave-Maries,

Their dances were procession.
But, now, alas! they all are dead,
Or gone beyond the seas,
Or farther for religion fled;
Or else they take their ease.
A tell-tale in their company
They never could endure;
And whoso kept not secretly

Their mirth, was punished sure;
It was a just and Christian deed

To pinch such blacke and blue:
Oh how the commonwelth doth need
Such justices as you!

Now they have left our quarters,

A register they have,

Who can preserve their charters

A man both wise and grave.
An hundred of their merry pranks.
By one that I could name,

Are kept in store; con twenty thanks
To William for the same.

To William Churne of Staffordshire
Give laud and praises due,

Who, every meale, can mend your cheare

With tales both old and true; fo William all give audience, And pray yee for his noddle; For all the fairies' evidence Were lost if it were addle.

RICHARD CORBETT.

THE GREEN GNOME.

A MELODY.

RING, sing! ring, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, rhyme! chime, rhyme! thorough dales and dells!

Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath. bells!

Chime, sing! rhyme, ring! over fields and fells!

And I galloped and I galloped on my palfrey white as milk,

My robe was of the sea-green woof, my serk was of the silk;

My hair was golden yellow, and it floated to my shoe,

My eyes were like two harebells bathed in little drops of dew;

My palfrey, never stopping, made a music sweetly blent

With the leaves of autumn dropping all around me as I went;

And I heard the bells, grown fainter, far behind me peal and play,

Fainter, fainter, fainter, till they seemed to die away;

And beside a silver runnel, on a little heap

of sand,

I saw the green gnome sitting, with his cheek upon his hand.

Then he started up to see me, and he ran with cry and bound,

And drew me from my palfrey white and set me on the ground.

Oh crimson, crimson were his locks, his face was green to see,

But he cried, "O light-haired lassie, you are bound to marry me!"

He clasped me round the middle small, he kissed me on the cheek,

He kissed me once, he kissed me twice-I could not stir or speak;

He kissed me twice, he kissed me thrice--but when he kissed again,

I called aloud upon the name of Him who died for men.

Sing, sing! ring, ring! pleasant Sabbath bells Chime, rhyme! chime, rhyme' thorough dales and dells!

Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath

bells!

Chime, sing! rhyme, ring! over fields and fells!

Oh faintly, faintly, faintly, calling men and maids to pray,

So faintly, faintly, faintly rang the bells far away;

And as I named the Blessed Name, as in our

need we can,

The ugly green green gnome became a tall and comely man:

His hands were white, his beard was gold, his eyes were black as sloes,

His tunic was of scarlet woof, and silken were his hose;

A pensive light from Faëryland still lingered on his cheek,

His voice was like the running brook, when he began to speak:

"Oh you have cast away the charm my stepdame put on me,

Seven years I dwelt in Faëryland, and you have set me free.

Oh I will mount thy palfrey white, and ride to kirk with thee,

And by those little dewy eyes, we twain will wedded be!"

Back we galloped, never stopping, he before and I behind,

And the autumn leaves were dropping, red

and yellow, in the wind;

And the sun was shining clearer, and my heart was high and proud,

As nearer, nearer, nearer, rang the kirk bells sweet and loud,

And we saw the kirk before us, as we trotted down the fells,

And nearer, clearer, o'er us, rang the welcome of the bells.

Ring, sing! ring, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, rhyme! chime, rhymne! thorough dales and dells!

Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells!

Chime, sing! rhyme, ring! over fields and

fells!

ROBERT BUCHANAN.