78 THE MONK ROCK. 



A pillared rock frowns sternly there 



Far o*er the baffled wave, 

 The Monk, is the ancient name it bare, 



Which our Cornish fathers gave ! 



The Moon was cold on the furrowed sand 



Without that rocky shade, 

 W^hen the priest of Crantock's* burning hand. 



On the Maiden's brow was laid. — 



Tis not to pray — ^tis not to shrive — 



Therefore what doth she here ? 

 She lov'd ! is the answer the legends give. 



She lov'd too well to fear ! 



" Now Saint Cuthbert aid ! '* was the cry they heard, 



That deep and distant tone : 

 Twas not the voice of the Ocean-bird — 



Twas not the Sea-Maid's moan. 



They found Her not at break of Morn, 



The dark Friar was not there. 

 Another Priest for his cell is shorn, — 



Her hearth hath a vacant chair. 



ui Fountain leaps to gushing life 



In that unwonted spot, — 

 The Surges war in fruitless strife 



With a Rock that heedcth not. 



Plunge those you love in that Sacred Well 



At Moonlight's mystic hour, — 

 They say that Sin shall pass therein, 



The fiend will lose his power. 



But shun that Rock amid the Sea ! 



Its cold depths darkly bear, 

 A breast all quick with agony, 



Hot with the old despair ! 



In an antique book these ihings are told. 



Tales of a former age. 

 And shapes uncouth in hues of gold. 



Are graven on the page. 



You have heard of the Holy W ell, my Love, 



On Cuthbert's storied gTound — 

 The cloister'd cave all dark above. 



The cold waves moaning round. 



* The collegiate church of St. Crantock, or St. Carantock, con- 

 sisted of a dean and nine prebendaries. It was conveyed to the 

 church of Exeter in the year 1236. 



