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Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown,-
The sportive toil, which, short and light,
Had dyed her glowing hue so bright,
Served too in hastier swell to show
Short glimpses of a breast of snow;
What though no rule of courtly grace
To measured mood had trained her pace,-
A foot more light, a step more true,

Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew;
E'en the slight hare-bell raised its head,
Elastic from her airy tread:

What though upon her speech there hung
The accents of the mountain tongue,-
Those silver sounds, so soft, so dear,
The listener held his breath to hear.

A chieftain's daughter seemed the maid;
Her satin snood, her silken plaid,

Her golden brooch, such birth betrayed.
And seldom was a snood amid

Such wild, luxuriant ringlets hid,

Whose glossy black to shame might bring
The plumage of the raven's wing;
And seldom o'er a breast so fair,
Mantled a plaid with modest care,
And never brooch the folds combined
Above a heart more good and kind.
Her kindness and her worth to spy,
You need but gaze on Ellen's eye;
Not Katrine, in her mirror blue,
Gives back the shaggy banks more true,
Than every free-born glance confessed

The guileless movements of her breast;
Whether joy danced in her dark eye,
Or woe or pity claimed a sigh,
Or filial love was glowing there,
Or meek devotion poured a prayer,
Or tale of injury called forth
The indignant spirit of the north.
One only passion, unrevealed,
With maiden pride the maid concealed,
Yet not less purely felt the flame;—
Oh, need I tell that passion's name!

Impatient of the silent horn,

Now on the gale her voice was borne:-
“Father!” she cried; the rocks around
Loved to prolong the gentle sound.
A while she paused, no answer came,—
"Malcolm, was thine the blast?" the name
Less resolutely uttered fell,

The echoes could not catch the swell.
"A stranger I," the Huntsman said,
Advancing from the hazel shade.
The maid, alarmed, with hasty oar
Pushed her light shallop from the shore,
And, when a space was gained between,
Closer she drew her bosom's screen
(So forth the startled swan would swing,
So turn to prune his ruffled wing).
Then safe, though fluttered and amazed,
She paused, and on the stranger gazed.
Not his the form, nor his the eye,
That youthful maidens wont to fly.

On his bold visage middle age-
Had slightly pressed its signet sage,
Yet had not quenched the open truth
And fiery vehemence of youth;
Forward and frolic glee was there,
The will to do, the soul to dare,
The sparkling glance, soon blown to fire,
Of hasty love, or headlong ire.
His limbs were cast in manly mould,
For hardy sports, or contest bold;
And though in peaceful garb arrayed,
And weaponless, except his blade,
His stately mien as well implied
A high-born heart, a martial pride,
As if a Baron's crest he wore,

And sheathed in armour trod the shore.
Slighting the petty need he showed,
He told of his benighted road:

His ready speech flowed fair and free,
In phrase of gentlest courtesy ;
Yet seemed that tone and gesture bland,
Less used to sue than to command.

A while the maid the stranger eyed,
And, reassured, at last replied,
That Highland halls were open still
To wildered wanderers of the hill.
"Nor think you unexpected come
Το
yon lone isle, our desert home:
Before the heath had lost the dew,
This morn a couch was pulled for you;

On yonder mountain's purple head

Have ptarmigan and heath-cock bled,
And our broad nets have swept the mere,
To furnish forth your evening cheer.”
"Now, by the rood, my lovely maid,
Your courtesy has erred," he said;
"No right have I to claim, misplaced,
The welcome of expected guest.
A wanderer, here by fortune tossed,
My way, my friends, my courser lost,
I ne'er before, believe me, fair,
Have ever drawn your mountain air,
Till on this lake's romantic strand
I found a fay in fairy-land."

"I well believe," the maid replied,
As her light skiff approached the side--
"I well believe, that ne'er before

Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's shore;

But yet, as far as yesternight,

Old Allan-Bane foretold your plight-
A gray-haired sire, whose eye intent
Was on the visioned future bent.'
He saw your steed, a dappled gray,
Lie dead beneath the birchen way;
Painted exact your form and mien,

Your hunting-suit of Lincoln green,

1 A superstitious belief in second sight prevailed in the Highlands: it was called in Gaelic Taishitaraugh, from Taish, an unreal or shadowy appearance; and those possessed of the faculty are called Taishatrin, which may be aptly translated visionaries. They pretended to see visions, and to be informed of future events, which obtained for them an extraordinary influence over their countrymen.

That tasselled horn so gayly gilt,
That falchion's crooked blade and hilt,
That cap with heron's plumage trim,
And yon two hounds so dark and grim.
He bade that all should ready be,
Το grace a guest of fair degree;
But light I held his prophecy,

And deemed it was my father's horn,

Whose echoes o'er the lake were borne."

The stranger smiled :

:

"Since to your home

A destined errant-knight I come,

Announced by prophet sooth and old,
Doomed, doubtless, for achievement bold,
I'll lightly front each high emprize,
For one kind glance of those bright eyes:
Permit me, first, the task to guide

Your fairy frigate o'er the tide."

The maid, with smile suppressed and sly,
The toil unwonted saw him try;

For seldom, sure, if e'er before,
His noble hand had grasped an oar:

Yet with main strength his strokes he drew,
And o'er the lake the shallop flew ;
With heads erect and whimpering cry,
The hounds behind their passage ply.

Nor frequent does the bright oar break
The darkening mirror of the lake,
Until the rocky isle they reach,

And moor their shallop on the beach.

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