His eye was on the bell and float-
Quoth he, my men, put out the boat,
And row me to the Inchcape Rock,
And I'll plague the priest of Aberbrothok.
The boat is lower'd, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go ;
Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,
And cut the warning bell from the float.
Down sunk the bell with a gurgling sound;
The bubbles rose, and burst around.
Quoth Sir Ralph, the next who comes to the Rock
Will not bless the priest of Aberbrothok.
Sir Ralph the Rover sail'd away ;
He scour'd the seas for inany a day;
And now grown rich with plunder'd store, :
He steers his course to Scotland's shore.
So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky,
They could not see the sun on high;
The wind hath blown a gale all day;
At evening it hath died away.
On the deck the Rover takes his stand ;
So dark it is they see no land;
Quoth Sir Ralph, it will be lighter soon,
For there is the dawn of the rising moon.
Canst hear, said one, the breakers roar?
For yonder, methinks, should be the shore.
Now where we are I cannot tell,
But I wish we could hear the Inchcape Bell.
They hear no sound, the swell is strong,
Though the wind hath fallen they drift along,
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock-
Oh Christ! it is the Inchcape Rock!
VOL. III.
Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair;
He cursed himself in his despair;
The waves rush in on every side,
The ship is sinking beneath the tide.
But even in his dying fear
One dreadful sound he seem'd to hear;
A sound as if with the Inchcape Bell
The devil below was ringing his knell.
SOUTHEY.
SCOTTISH BALLAD. Fair Lady Ann sat in her bower,
Adown by the green wode syde ; And the flowres did spring, and the byrdes did sing,
'Twas the merry Mayday tyde. But fair Lady Ann on Sir William calld,
Wi the tear so big in her ee*, 0, though thou be fause, may Heaven thee guard
In the wars ayond the sea !
Out of the wood cam three bonny boys
A’ nakit as they were borne ;
And they did sing and play at the ba't
Upo the simmer's morn.
O, sevin lang zear wad I sit here
Among the frost and the sna,
A $ to ha but ane of thae $ bonny boys
A-playing at the ba’.
Then up and spak the eldest boy,
Now listen, thou faire ladie,
And ponder well the read || that I tell,,
Then make you a choice of the three.
Eye. + Ball. | All to have. ♡ These.
'Tis I am Peter, and this is Paul,
And that ane sae fair to see
But a twelmonth sin * syne to Paradise came,
To join with our companie.
O, I will hae the sna white boy,
The bonniest o' the three.
And gin I were there and in thy propine t,
0, what wad ze do wi me?' 'Tis I wad cleed thee in silk and gowd ,
And nourice thee on my knee! • O mither, mither, when I was thine,
Sic & kindness I could nae see.
Beneath the sod where now I stand,
The fause nurse buried me,
And thy cruel penknife is still in my heart,
And I come not back to thee.'
ANONYMOUS.
BALLAD.
SEE, Warder, yonder banner wave
Along the frosty air ;
'Tis the white cross of Edric brave,
Heaven grants him to my prayer !
Down with the bridge!'-To meet her knight
She flew in joyous mood;
Nor mark'd the child, who follow'd light,
And linger'd in the wood.
My Adela! three tedious years
I've sigh’d for this bless'd hour !
Still blooms our boy?-Like rain my tears
Have nursed that lovely flower.'
+ Gift or management.
• Bar well the gate, for foes are nigh:
And bring my child.'-'Tis late,
Apd waken'd now he'd sob and cry;
Till morn, dear Edric, wait.'
The livelong night the Warder thought
He heard an infant's wail ;
The livelong day the mother sought
Her boy o'er hill and dale.
At length she found him by the wall,
Tears frozen on his face ;-
She found him—and she shared his pall-
His dirge—his resting place.
MISS MITFORD.
(Peggy Stewart was the daughter of an Otabeitan chief, and
married to one of the mutineers of the Bounty. On Stewart's being seized and carried away in the Pandora Frigate, Peggy fell into a rapid decay, and in two months died of a broken heart, leaving an infant daughter, who is still living.]
FROM the isle of the distant ocean
My white love came to me;
I led the weary stranger
Beneath the spreading tree.
With white and yellow blossoms
I strew'd his pillow there,
And watch'd his bosom's heaving,
So gentle and so fair.
Before I knew his language,
Or he could talk in mine,
We vow'd to love each other,
And never to resign.
0, then 'twas lovely watching
The sparkling of his eyes,
And learn the white man’s greeting,
And answer all his sighs.
I taught my constant white loye
To play upon the wave,
To turn the storm to pleasure,
And the curling surge to brave.
How pleasant was our sporting,
Like dolphins on the tide; To dive beneath the billow,
Or the rolling surf to ride. To summer groves I led him,
Where fruit hangs in the sun; We linger'd by the fountains
That murmur as they run. By the verdant islands sailing,
Where the crested seabirds go, We heard the dash of the distant spray, And saw through the deeps the sunbeams play,
In the coral bowers below. And when my lover, weary,
To our woodland couch would creep, I sang the song that pleased him,
And crown'd bis lids with sleep. My kindred much would wonder,
The white man's love to see;
And Otaheitan maidens
Would often envy me.
Yet when my white love's forehead
Would sadden with despair,
I knew not why the cold drops
Should start and quiver there.
|