Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series - 1819.djvu/286

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276
TALES OF MY LANDLORD.

Quench, kelpy! quench, in bog and fen,
Thy torch that cheats benighted men;
Thy dance is o'er, thy reign is dene,
For Benyieglo hath seen the sun.

4.

"Wild thoughts, that, sinful, dark and deep,
O'erpower the passive mind in sleep,
Pass from the slumberer's soul away,
Like night-mists from the brow of day:—
Foul hag, whose blasted visage grim
Smothers the pulse, unnerves the limb,
Spur thy dark palfrey, and begone!
Thou darest not face the godlike sun."


As the strain proceeded, Allan M'Aulay gradually gave signs of recovering his presence of mind and attention to the objects around him. The deep-knit furrows of his brow relaxed and smoothed themselves; and the rest of his features, which had seemed contorted with internal agony, relapsed into a more natural state. When he raised his head and sat upright, his countenance, though still deeply melancholy, was divested of its wildness and