BLANNAID. 619 



In another place he makes a fish of the whale: which, however, so far 

 from being obnoxious to such degradation, is a warm-blooded mammi- 

 ferous creature, actually moving in the same class as the Reverend 

 Henry Fergus himself. 



BLANNAID, 



A LEGEND OF FIONGLAISE. 



Lascia ch'il venga ! " ALFIERI. 



Bruto Secundo. 



I. 



Whose form reclines along the grass, 

 That skirts the banks of Fionglaise ? 

 Whose eyes are those, that listless stray 

 Upon its waters' dimpled way, 

 As purely clear and blue as they ? 

 And now upturned in ecstasy, 

 Dwell on the evening's cloudless sky 

 And now cast down, that forehead fair, 

 Bends o'er the heaven that trembles there, 

 Upon the wave whose bosom's flow 

 Reflects the sunset's golden glow : 

 Who gazes on the Daingean's wall, 



Which brightens in the sunbeam's smile ? 

 Tis she the mistress of it all, 



Fair Blannaid of the Western Isle. 



II. 



How calmly flows that gentle tide, 

 With not a ripple on its breast ; 

 The heather winding by its side, 



Is vainly kissing it to rest 

 But faithless in its wanton play, 

 It mocks that kiss and speeds away : 

 The weeping willow strives to lave 

 Its blossom in the wily wave ; 

 The timid aspen tries to hide 

 Its foliage in the tiny tide ; 

 But fleet as hope's delusive dream, 

 The passage of that mountain stream ; 

 And false as man's fidelity, 

 Its passion for that trusting tree ! 



III. 



There's silence in that fortress* hall 

 The banner droops along the wall 

 Unguarded and alone ; for they 

 Who watched it well are far away. 

 The faulchion slumbers in the sheath ; 

 The lance no longer points to death ; 

 The wolf-hound slumbers at the gate, 



Nor hears the hunter's cry ; 

 The dun deer there at evening late 



Is fearless bounding by : 



