From darkness 'rushing o'er his way,
The thorn's white load it bears on high!
Where the short furze all shrouded lay,
• Mounts the dried grass;... Earth's bosom dry-

10.

Would it were so ! . . the fire burns bright,
And on the warming trencher gleams;
In expectation's raptur'd sight

How precious his arrival seems!

11.

I'll look abroad!... 'tis piercing cold!...
How the bleak wind assails his breast!
Yet some faint light mine eyes behold:
The storm is verging o'er the west-

12.

There shines a star.... O welcome sight!
Through the thin vapours bright'ning still,
Yet 'twas beneath the fairest night
The murdrer stain'd yon lonely hill—

13.

Mercy, kind heav'n! such thoughts dispel!
No voice, no footstep can I hear!'
(Where night and silence brooding dwell
Spreads thy cold reign, heart-chilling fear.)
14.

'Distressing hour! uncertain fate!
O mercy, mercy, guide him home!...
Hark! ... then I heard the distant gate
Repeat it, echo; quickly, come!

15.

One minute now will ease my fears. ...
Or still more wretched must I be?
No surely heav'n has spar'd our tears:
I see him, cloath'd in snow : . . . 'tis he...

16.

Where have you stay'd? put down your load, How have you borne the storm, the cold? What horrors did I not forebode...

That beast is worth his weight in gold!'

17.

Thus spoke the joyful wife . . . then ran
And hid in grateful steams her head:
Dapple was hous'd, the hungry man
With joy glanc'd o'er the children's bed-

18.

What all asleep!... so best;' he cried;
O what a night I've travell'd through;
Unseen, unheard, I might have died;
( But heav'n has brought me safe to you→→
19.

Dear partner of my nights and days,
That smile becomes thee! ... Let us then
Learn though mishap may cross our way
It is not ours, to reckon when !'

CADYOW CASTLE,

Addressed to the Right Hon. Lady Anne Hamilton.