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THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
CANTO IV.
When e'en Clan-Alpine's rugged swarm
Are cow'd by the approaching storm
I saw their boats, with many a light,
Floating the live-long yesternight,
Shifting like flashes darted forth
By the red streamers of the north;
I marked at morn how close they ride,
Thick moored by the lone islet's side,
Like wild ducks couching in the fen,
When stoops the hawk upon the glen.
Since this rude race dare not abide
The peril on the main-land side,
Shall not thy noble father's care
Some safe retreat for thee prepare?"—
Are cow'd by the approaching storm
I saw their boats, with many a light,
Floating the live-long yesternight,
Shifting like flashes darted forth
By the red streamers of the north;
I marked at morn how close they ride,
Thick moored by the lone islet's side,
Like wild ducks couching in the fen,
When stoops the hawk upon the glen.
Since this rude race dare not abide
The peril on the main-land side,
Shall not thy noble father's care
Some safe retreat for thee prepare?"—
X.
ELLEN.
"No, Allan, no! Pretext so kind
My wakeful terrors could not blind.
ELLEN.
"No, Allan, no! Pretext so kind
My wakeful terrors could not blind.
