Wild gazed the affrighted Earl around ;-
He ftrove in vain to wake his horn,
In vain to call; for not a found
Could from his anxious lips be borne.

He liftens for his trufty hounds;
No diftant baying reach'd his ears;
His courfer, rooted to the ground,
The quickening spur unmindful bears.

grave;

Still dark and darker frown the fhades,
Dark as the darkness of the
And not a found the ftill invades,
Save what a distant torrent gave.

High o'er the finner's humbled head

At length the folemn filence broke; And from a cloud of fwarthy red,

The awful voice of thunder spoke.

"Oppreffor of creation fair!

"Apoftate fpirit's harden'd tool! "Scorner of God! fcourge of the poor! "The measure of thy cup is full.

"Be chafed for ever through the wood,
"For ever roam the affrighted wild;
"And let thy fate inftruct the proud,
"God's meaneft creature is his child.".

'Twas

'Twas hufh'd: one flash of fombre glare With yellow tinged the forefts brown; Up rofe the Wildgrave's bristling hair,

And horror chill'd each nerve and bone.

Cold pour'd the fweat in freezing rill;
A rifing wind began to fing;
And louder, louder, louder ftill,

Brought ftorm and tempeft on its wing.

Earth heard the call-her entrails rend";
From yawning rifts with many a yell,
Mix'd with fulphureous flames, afcend
The misbegotten dogs of hell.

What ghaftly huntsman next arofe,
Well may I guess, but dare not tell :
His eye like midnight lightning glows,
His fteed the swarthy hue of hell.

The Wildgrave flies o'er bush and thorn,
With many a fhriek of helpless woe;
Behind him hound, and horfe, and horn,
And hark away, and holla, ho!

With wild defpair's reverted eye,

Close, close behind, he marks the throng;

With bloody fangs, and eager cry,

In frantic fear he fcours along.

Still,

Still, ftill fhall laft the dreadful chafe,
Till time itself fhall have an end;
By day, they scour earth's cavern'd space,
At midnight's witching hour, afcend.

This is the horn, and hound, and horfe,
That oft the lated peafant hears:
Appall'd, he figns the frequent cross,
When the wild din invades his ears.

The wakeful priest oft drops a tear
For human pride, for human woe,
When, at his midnight mafs, he hears
The infernal cry of holla, ho!

No.

No. XXIV.

THE OLD WOMAN OF BERKELEY.

ROBERT SOUTHEY.

A. D. 852. Circa dies istos, mulicr quædam malefica, in villä quæ Berkeleia dicitur degens, gulæ amatrix ac petulantiæ, flagitiis modum usque in senium et auguriis non ponens, usque ad mortem impudica permansit. Hæc die quadam cum sederet ad prandium, cornicula quam pro delitiis pascebat, nescio quid garrire cæpit; quo audito, mulieris cultellus de manu excidit, simul et facies pallescere cæpit, et emisso rugitu, hodie, inquit, accipiam grande incommodum, hodieque ad sulcum ultimum meum pervenit aratrum. Quo dicto, nuncius doloris intravit ; muliere vero percunctatâ ad quid veniret, affero, inquit, tibi filii tui obitum et totius familiæ ejus ex subitâ ruinâ interitum. Hoc quoque dolore mulier permota, lecto protinus decubuit gra. viter infirmata; sentiensque morbum subrepere ad vitalia, liberos quos habuit superstites, monachum, videlicet, et monacham, per epistolam invitavit; advenientes autem voce singultiente alloquitur. Ego, inquit, o pueri, mco miserabili fato dæmoniacis semper artibus inservivi; ego omnium vitiorum sentina, ego illecebrarum omnium fui magistra. Erat tamen mihi inter hæo mala, spes vestræ religionis, quæ meam solidaret animam desperatam; vos expectabam propugnatores contra dæmones, tutores

contra

contra sævissimos hostes. Nunc igitur quoniam ad finem vitæ perveni, rogo vos per materna ubera, ut mea tentatis alleviare tormenta. Inserite me defunctam in corio cervino, ac deinde in sarcophago lapideo supponite, operculumque ferro et plumbo constringite, ac demum lapidem tribus cathenis ferreis et fortissimis circundantes, clericos quinquaginta psalmorum cantores, et tot per tres dies presbyteros missarum celebratores applicate, qui feroces lenigent adversariorum incursus. Ita si tribus noctibus secura jacuero, quarta die me infudite humo.

Factumque est ut præceperat illis. Sed, proh dolor! nil preces,

nil lacrymæ, nil demum valuere catena. Primis enim duabus noctibus, cum chori psallentium corpori assistabant, advenientes dæmones ostium ecclesiæ confregerunt ingenti obice clausum, extremasque cathenas negotio levi dirumpunt: media autem, quæ fortior erat, illibata manebat. Tertia autem nocte, circa gallicinium, strepitu hostium adventantium, omne monasterium visum est a fundamento moveri. Unus ergo dæmonum, et vultu cæteris terribilior, et staturâ eminentior, januas ecclesiæ impetu violento concussas in fragmenta dejecit. Divexerunt clerici cum laicis, metu steterunt omnium capilli, et psalmorum concentus defecit. Damon ergo gestu ut videbatur arroganti ad sepulchrum accedens, et nomen mulieris modicum ingeminans, surgere imperavit. Quá respondente, quod nequiret pro vinculis, jam malo tuo, inquit, solveris; et protinus cathenam quæ cæterorum ferociam dæmonium deluserat, velut stuppeum vinculum rumpebat. Operculum etiam sepulchri pede depellens, mulierem palam omnibus ab ecclesiâ extraxit, ubi præ foribus niger equus superbe hinniens videbatur, uncis ferreis et clavis undique confixus, super quem misera mulier projecta, ab oculis assistentium evanuit. Audiebantur tamen clamores, per quatuor fere miliaria, horribiles, auxilium postu

lantes.