Canto First

       Table of Contents

       I

      The stag at eve had drunk his fill,

       Where danced the moon on Monan’s rill,

       And deep his midnight lair had made

       In lone Glenartney’s hazel shade;

       But when the sun his beacon red

       Had kindled on Benvoirlich’s head,

       The deep-mouthed bloodhound’s heavy bay

       Resounded up the rocky way,

       And faint, from farther distance borne,

       Were heard the clanging hoof and horn.

       II

      As Chief, who hears his warder call,

       ‘To arms! the foemen storm the wall,’

       The antlered monarch of the waste

       Sprung from his heathery couch in haste.

       But ere his fleet career he took,

       The dewdrops from his flanks he shook;

       Like crested leader proud and high

       Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky;

       A moment gazed adown the dale,

       A moment snuffed the tainted gale,

       A moment listened to the cry,

       That thickened as the chase drew nigh;

       Then, as the headmost foes appeared,

       With one brave bound the copse he cleared,

       And, stretching forward free and far,

       Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.

       III

      Yelled on the view the opening pack;

       Rock, glen, and cavern paid them back;

       To many a mingled sound at once

       The awakened mountain gave response.

       A hundred dogs bayed deep and strong,

       Clattered a hundred steeds along,

       Their peal the merry horns rung out,

       A hundred voices joined the shout;

       With hark and whoop and wild halloo,

       No rest Benvoirlich’s echoes knew.

       Far from the tumult fled the roe,

       Close in her covert cowered the doe,

       The falcon, from her cairn on high,

       Cast on the rout a wondering eye,

       Till far beyond her piercing ken

       The hurricane had swept the glen.

       Faint, and more faint, its failing din

       Returned from cavern, cliff, and linn,

       And silence settled, wide and still,

       On the lone wood and mighty hill.

       IV

      Less loud the sounds of sylvan war

       Disturbed the heights of Uam-Var,

       And roused the cavern where, ‘t is told,

       A giant made his den of old;

       For ere that steep ascent was won,

       High in his pathway hung the sun,

       And many a gallant, stayed perforce,

       Was fain to breathe his faltering horse,

       And of the trackers of the deer

       Scarce half the lessening pack was near;

       So shrewdly on the mountainside

       Had the bold burst their mettle tried.

       V

      The noble stag was pausing now

       Upon the mountain’s southern brow,

       Where broad extended, far beneath,

       The varied realms of fair Menteith.

       With anxious eye he wandered o’er

       Mountain and meadow, moss and moor,

       And pondered refuge from his toil,

       By far Lochard or Aberfoyle.

       But nearer was the copsewood gray

       That waved and wept on Loch Achray,

       And mingled with the pine-trees blue

       On the bold cliffs of Benvenue.

       Fresh vigor with the hope returned,

       With flying foot the heath he spurned,

       Held westward with unwearied race,

       And left behind the panting chase.

       VI

      ‘T were long to tell what steeds gave o’er,

       As swept the hunt through Cambusmore;

       What reins were tightened in despair,

       When rose Benledi’s ridge in air;

       Who flagged upon Bochastle’s heath,

       Who shunned to stem the flooded Teith,—

       For twice that day, from shore to shore,

       The gallant stag swam stoutly o’er.

       Few were the stragglers, following far,

       That reached the lake of Vennachar;

       And when the Brigg of