Page:Passions 2.pdf/125

Sel. I will assail him now. (in a louder voice.)
Ho! foxes heads our huntsman's belt adorn,
Who have, thro' tangled woods and ferny moors
With many wiles shaped out their mazy flight;
Have swam deep floods, and from the rocky brows
Of frightful precipices boldly leap'd
Into the gulph below.
Nay, e'en our lesser game hath nobly done:
Across his shoulders hang four furred feet,
That have full twenty miles before us run
In little space. O, it was glorious!

Ethw. (raising his head carelessly.)
Well, well, I know that hares will swiftly run
When dogs pursue them. (stretches himself and goes to rest again.)

Eth. Leave him to rest, he is not to be rous'd.

Sel. Well, be it so. By heaven my fretted soul
Did something of this easy stupor lack,
When near the eastern limits of our chace
I pass'd the frowning tower of Ruthergeld!
He hangs a helmet o'er his battlements,
As tho' he were the chief protecting Thane
Of all the country round.
I'll teach th' ennobled Coerl, within these bounds,
None may pretend in noble birth to vie
With Mollo's honour'd line!

Eth. (proudly.)Hast thou forgot?
Or did'st thou never hear whose blood it is
That fills these swelling veins?

Sel. I cry you mercy, Thane: I little doubt
Some brave man was the founder of your house.