Joy sparkled in the prancing Courser's eyes; A rout this morning left Sir Walter's Hall, Sir Walter, restless as a veering wind, The Knight hallooed, he chid and cheered them on With suppliant gestures and upbraidings stern; But breath and eye-sight fail; and one by one, The Dogs are stretched among the mountain fern. Where is the throng, the tumult of the race? - This Chase it looks not like an earthly Chase; Sir Walter and the Hart are left alone. The poor Hart toils along the mountain side; Dismounting then, he leaned against a thorn; Close to the thorn on which Sir Walter leaned, Upon his side the Hart was lying stretched : And now, too happy for repose or rest, (Never had living man such joyful lot!) Sir Walter walked all round, north, south, and west, And gazed and gazed upon that darling spot. Nine roods of sheer ascent) Sir Walter found Three several hoof-marks which the hunted Beast Had left imprinted on the grassy ground. Sir Walter wiped his face and cried, "Till now Such sight was never seen by living eyes : Three leaps have borne him from this lofty brow, Down to the very fountain where he lies. I'll build a Pleasure-house upon this spot, A cunning Artist will I have to frame A bason for that Fountain in the dell ! And they, who do make mention of the same From this day forth, shall call it HART-LEAP WELL. And, gallant brute! to make thy praises known, Another monument shall here be raised; Three several Pillars, each a rough-hewn Stone, And planted where thy hoofs the turf have grazed. And, in the summer-time when days are long,· And with the Dancer's, and the Minstrel's song, Till the foundations of the mountains fail Then home he went, and left the Hart, stone-dead, With breathless nostrils stretched above the spring. Soon did the Knight perform what he had said, And far and wide the fame thereof did ring. Ere thrice the moon into her port had steered, And near the fountain, flowers of stature tall And thither, when the summer-days were long, The Knight, Sir Walter, died in course of time, |