CULENA mov'd a long the level ground;
A hart descends before the op'ning hound:
From the recoiling chord fhe twang'd the dart,
And pierc'd the living vigour of the hart:
He starts, he springs; but falling as he flies,
Pours out his tim'rous foul with weeping eyes.
As o'er the dying prey the huntress sigh’d,
Before the wind heav'n pours a fable tide,
And lowring threats a storm: A rocky cave,
Where monks fucceffive hew'd their house and
Invites into its calm recefs the fair:
The rev'rend father breath'd abroad his pray'r.
The valiant DUFFUS comes with panting breath,
Faces the ftorm, and ftalks across the heath.
His fleeky hounds, a faithful tribe, before,
Are bath'd with blood, and vary'd o'er with gore.
Drench'd with the rain, the noble youth defcends,
And, in the cave, the growling storm defends.
Amaz’d, astonish'd, fix'd in dumb surprize,
The lovers ftood, but spoke with filent eyes:
At length the diftant colloquy they rear,
Run o'er the chace, the mountain, and the deer.
Far from the foul th' evafive tongue departs,
Their eyes are only faithful to their hearts.
The winding volumes of discourse return,
To hoftile fields by gallant DUFFUS fhorn.
Th' imperial maid must hear it o'er again,
How fell DOVALUS was by DUFFUS flain:
How, by the fon, the father's murd'rer fell,
The kindling virgin flames along the tale.
She turns, the quakes, and from her bosom figh's,
And all her foul comes melting in her eyes.
Flames, not unequal, all the youth poffefs,
He, for the firft, hears willingly his praise.
Praise, harfhly heard from warriors, kings and
Came down in balm on fair CULENA's words.
The royal pair thus fed the mutual fire, Now fpeak, now pause, when both alike admire. He longs to vent the paffion of his foul, And the the tempefts in her bofom roH. Now he begun; but fhame his voice oppreft; Loth to offend, his cyes muft tell the reft. At length, upon the headlong paffion born, He spoke his love, and had a kind return;
She figh'd, fhe own'd, and bent her modeft eyes,
While blushing rofes on her cheeks arife.
Thus, on the vale, the poppy's blushing head,
Brimful of fummer-fhow'rs, to earth is weigh'd,
Fann'd with the rising breeze it flow inclines,
While o'er the mead the rofy luftre fhines.
INDULPH into his cave the hermit led,
Found crring thro' the mountains stormy head.
CULENA, ftarting as the king appears, !
Looks ev'ry way, and trembles as fhe fears:
On her mild face the modeft blushes rife,
And fair diforder darted from her eyes.
The parent-king observ'd the virgin whole,
And read the harmless fecret in her foul.
A while the maze of calm difcourfe they wind;
At length the king unveils his royal mind.
"Warded from ALBION's head the ftorm is o'er;
Her prince is found, her foes are now no more:
Thro' time 'tis ours her happiness to trace;
'Tis ours to bind the future bands of peace.
Pofterity for ALBION's crown may fight,
And couch ambition in the name of right;
With fpecious titles urge the civil war,
And to a crown their guilty journey tear :
I end these fears :---the ftreams fhall run in one;
Nor ftruggling kindred ftrive to mount the throne.
I shield my daughter with young DUFFus' arms,
And blefs the warrior with CULENA's charms."
Thus faid the king. Their willing hands they join:
The rev'rent prieft runs o'er the rites divine..
The folemn ceremony clos'd with pray'r;
And DuFFUS call'd his own the royal fair.
The ftorm is ceas'd: the clouds together fly,.
And clear, at once, the azure fields of fky:
The mid-day fun pours down his fultry flame,
And the wet heath waves glist'ring in the beam.
The hunter chiefs appear upon the brow,
Fall down the hill, and join the king below:
Slow, thro' the narrow vale, their steps they bear;
Behind advance the fpoils of Sylvan war.
Far on a head-land point condens'd they stood,
And threw their eyes o'er ocean's fable flood;
Tall fhips advance afar: their canvas-fails
In their swoln bofom gather all the gales;
Floating along the fable back of sea,
Before the wind they cut their fpumy way;
Bend in their course, majestically slow,
And to the land their lazy journey plow.
Thus fpungy clouds on heav'n's blue vault arife, And float, before the wind, along the skies; Their wings oppos'd to the illuftrious fun, Shine, as they move, majestically on.. Thus godlike HAROLD brought his floating aid, Unknowing SUENO's number'd with the dead. From ANGLIA's coafts he call'd his troops afar, To aid his brother in the foreign war. Arriv'd, he in the wave the anchor throws, Attempts to land, and ALBION's chiefs oppofe; Wave on the fatal fhore the pointed spear, And fend the arrow whizzing thro' the air. The DANES return the flying death afar, And, as they croud away, maintain the war. An arrow tore thro" air its murm'ring path,
Fell on the king, and weigh'd him down to death Quick, from the wound, the blood tumult'ous
And o'er the fand the reeking weapon flung:
Prone on the ftrand, an awful trunk he lies,
While fleep eternal fteals upon his eyes.
The mournful chiefs around the dying food,
Some raife the body, others ftem the blood:
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