THE L URE. 139 



capital to a Corinthian, or the knight panoplied to a 

 brownie with a lily for a throne, and 



" jolly satyrs, full of fresh delight, 



Come dancing forth, and with them nimbly ledd 

 Faire Helenore, with girlonds all bespredd, 

 Whom their May-lady they had newly made ; " 



to give place again, as the golden meshes weave, to 

 cowled monks or ladies fair, as suits the whim of the 

 artist's patron. Again, the goblins of the range begin 

 their game of nine-pins, and the fleecy clouds that have 

 been slowdy drifting, drifting all the day, settle down 

 upon the mountain top and change from w T hite to gray 

 and from gray to black as the sport grows furious. 

 Something these elves must have to light up their 

 frolic, and presently it comes in great flashes of wicked 

 steel-blue and red, zigzaging dowm the mountain side, 

 or in straight blinding bolts that rive paths in the hard 

 granite, scattering the loose rock and shivering the 

 pines, while the noise of the jolly nine-j^ins rattles and 

 re-echoes among the crags, and dies away to come again 

 more quickly, until the mountain-top is a sheet of lurid 

 flame and the din unceasing, so closely follows peal 

 upon peal. The game is too violent to last, but the 

 gnomes love to hug the range in their pastime, and 

 I, understanding the signs, and having no fear of their 

 electric lights, watch the fast growing rift of azure that 

 crowds hard upon the driving blackness. At last the 

 mellow rays touch up my mountain ruins, and they 



