HART-LEAP WELL
cc I'll build a pleasure-house upon this spot,
And a small arbour, made for rural joy ;
5Twill be the traveller's shed, the pilgrim's cot,
A place of love for damsels that are coy.
" A cunning artist will I have to frame
A basin for that fountain in the dell !
And they who do make mention of the same,
From this day forth, shall call it HART-LEAP WELL.
*e And, gallant stag ! to make thy praises known,
Another monument shall here be raised ; 10
Three several pillars, each a rough-hewn stone,
And planted where thy hoofs the turf have grazed.
" And in the summer-time, when days are long,
I will come hither with my paramour ;
And with the dancers and the minstrel's song
We will make merry in that pleasant bower.
<e Till the foundations of the mountains fail
My mansion with its arbour shall endure ;—
The joy of them who till the fields of Swale,
And them who dwell among the woods of Ure ! " 20
Then home he went, and left the hart stone-dead,
With breathless nostrils stretched above the spring.
—Soon did the Knight perform what he had said ;
And far and wide the fame thereof did ring.
Ere thrice the moon into her port had steered,
A cup of stone received the living well ;
Three pillars of rude stone Sir Walter reared,
And built a house of pleasure in the dell.
And, near the fountain, flowers of stature tall
With trailing plants and trees were intertwined,— 30
Which soon composed a little sylvan hall,
A leafy shelter from the sun and wind.
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