Part 5 (2/2)

So said, so done?a single bound Clears the poor labourer?s humble pale: Wild follows man, and horse, and hound, Like dark December?s stormy gale.

And man, and horse, and hound, and horn Destructive sweep the field along, While joying o?er the wasted corn Fell famine marks the madd?ning throng.

Full lowly did the herdsman fall: ?Oh, spare, thou n.o.ble baron, spare; These herds, a widow?s little all; These flocks, an orphan?s fleecy care.?

?Unmannered dog! To stop my sport Vain were thy cant and beggar whine, Though human spirits of thy sort Were tenants of these carrion kine!?

Again he winds his bugle horn, ?Hark forward, forward! holla, ho!?

And through the herd in ruthless scorn He cheers his furious hounds to go.

In heaps the throttled victims fall; Down sinks their mangled herdsman near; The murd?rous cries the stag appal, Again he starts, new-nerved by fear.

With blood besmeared, and white with foam, While big the tears of anguish pour, He seeks, amid the forest?s gloom, The humble hermit?s hallowed bow?r.

All mild, amid the route profane, The holy hermit poured his prayer: ?Forbear with blood G.o.d?s house to stain: Revere His altar, and forbear!

?The meanest brute has rights to plead, Which, wronged by cruelty or pride, Draw vengeance on the ruthless head; Be warned at length, and turn aside.?

Still the fair horseman anxious pleads; The black, wild whooping, points the prey.

Alas! the Earl no warning heeds, But frantic keeps the forward way.

?Holy or not, or right or wrong, Thy altar and its rights I spurn; Not sainted martyrs? sacred song, Not G.o.d Himself shall make me turn.?

He spurs his horse, he winds his horn, ?Hark forward, forward! holla, ho!?

But off, on whirlwind?s pinions borne, The stag, the hut, the hermit, go.

And horse and man, and horn and hound, The clamour of the chase was gone; For hoofs, and howls, and bugle sound, A deadly silence reigned alone.

Wild gazed the affrighted Earl around; He strove in vain to wake his horn, In vain to call; for not a sound Could from his anxious lips be borne.

High o?er the sinner?s humbled head At length the solemn silence broke; And from a cloud of swarthy red The awful voice of thunder spoke:

?Oppressor of creation fair!

Apostate spirits? hardened tool!

Scorner of G.o.d! Scourge of the poor!

The measure of thy cup is full.

?Be chased for ever through the wood, For ever roam the affrighted wild; And let thy fate instruct the proud, G.o.d?s meanest creature is His child.?

?Twas hushed: one flash of sombre glare With yellow tinged the forest?s brown; Up rose the Wildgrave?s bristling hair, And horror chilled each nerve and bone.

Earth heard the call?her entrails rend; From yawning rifts, with many a yell, Mixed with sulphureous flames, ascend The misbegotten dogs of h.e.l.l.

What ghastly huntsman next arose, Well may I guess, but dare not tell: His eye like midnight lightning glows, His steed the swarthy hue of h.e.l.l.

The Wildgrave flies o?er bush and thorn, With many a shriek of hapless woe; Behind him hound, and horse, and horn, And hark away, and holla, ho!

With wild despair?s reverted eye, Close, close behind, he marks the throng; With b.l.o.o.d.y fangs, and eager cry, In frantic fear he scours along.

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