Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1839-08-08
AND WHILST HIS HARP RESPONSIVE RUN0,
TWAS THUS THE LATEST MINSTREL SUMO. ~
THE DEATH OF KEELDAR
BY SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.

oA ON Waller SUIT, BART
Percy or Percival Rede, of Trochend, in
deadale, Northumberland, is celebrated in
dition as huntsman and a soldier. He v
upon two occasions, singularly unfortun
once when an arrow, which he had dischar
at deer, killed his celebrated dog Keelc
and again when, being on hunting party
was betrayed into the hands of clan ca
Crossar, by whom he was murdered.
Cooper's Painting the first of these iucde
suggested the following stanzas:
Up rose the sun Ger moor and need;
UP with the sun rose Percy Rede;
Brave Keeldar from his couples freed,
Career'd along the lea,
The palfrey sprung with sprightly bound
!. AS if to match the gamesome hound;
His horn the gallant huntsman wound;
They were a jovial three!
Man, hound, or horse, ofhigher fame,
To wake the wild deer never came;
Since Alnwick's Earl pursued the game,
On Cheviot's rueful day,
keeldar was matchless in his speed,
Than Tarras ne'er was stauncher steeI
A peerless archer Percy Rede;
And right dear friends were they
The chase engrossed their joys ~ woes,
Together at the dawn they rosy
Together shared the moons lose,
BY fountain or by streap
And oft, when evening skieB we're red,
The heather was their common bed,
Where each, as wildering fancy led,
Still hunted in his dream.
Now is the thrilling moment near,
Ofsylvan hope and sylvan fear,
Yon thicket holds the harbour'd deer,
The signs the hunters know
With eyes of fame, and quivering ears,
The brake sagacious Keedar nears;
The restless pafrey paws and rears;
The archer strings his bow.
The games afoot!-IIaloo! Halloo!
Hunter, and horse, and hound pursue;
But woe the shaft that erring flew
That e'er it left the string!
And i'll betlde the faithless yew!
The stag bounds scaAAeless DER the dew,
And gallant Keeldar's life blood true,
Has drenched the grey-goose wing,
The noble hound-he dies, he dies,
Death, death has glazed his fixed eyes,
Stiff on the bloody heath he lies,
Without moan or culver.
Now day may break and bugle sound,
And whoop and hoIloa ring around,
And DER his couch the stag may bound,
But Keeldar sleeps for ever.
Dillated nostrils, staring eyes.
Mark the poor palfrey's mute surprise,
He knows not that his comrade dies,
Nor what is death-".but still
His aspect hath expression drear
OF grief and wonder, mixed with fear,
Like startled children when they hear
Some mystic tale of i'll.
But he that bent the fatal bow,
Can we'll the sum Of evil know,
And Ger his favorite bending low,
In speeches grief recline;
Can think he hears the senseless clay
In anreproachful accents say,
"Ihe hand that took my LIE away,
Dear Master, was it thine2"
Sand if it be, the shaft be blessed,
Which sure some erring aim ADDRESSED,
Since in your service priz'd, caress'd,
in your service die;
And you may have fleeter hound,
To match the dun deer's merry bound,
But by your couch will meier be found
So true guard as l."
And to his last stout Percy rued,
The fatal chance, for when he stood,
'Gainst fearful odds in deadly feud,
And fell amid the fray,
Fen with his dying voice he cried,
"iad keeldar but been at my side,
Your treacherous ambush had been spied-
had not died to-day.
Remembrance Of the erring bow
Long since had joined the tides which flow,
Conveying human bliss and woe,
Down dark Obivion's river;
But Art can Times stern doom arrest,
And snatch his spoils from Lethe's breast,
And, in her Cooper's colors drest,
The scene shall live for ever.
MISCELLANEOU
A LOTTERY DREAM.
r.