But that she goes to this old Thorn, The Thorn which I've described to you, And there sits in a scarlet cloak, I will be sworn is true. For one day with my telescope, 'Twas mist and rain, and storm and rain, I looked around, I thought I saw A jutting crag, and off I ran, Head-foremost, through the driving rain, The shelter of the crag to gain; And, as I am a man, Instead of jutting crag, I found A Woman seated on the ground. I did not speak · I saw her face; Her face! it was enough for me; I turned about and heard her cry, And there she sits, until the moon And, when the little breezes make, The waters of the Pond to shake, As all the country know, She shudders, and you hear her cry, "Oh misery! oh misery!" "But what's the Thorn? and what's the Pond? And what's the Hill of moss to her? And what's the creeping breeze that comes The little Pond to stir?" "I cannot tell; but some will say She hanged her baby on the tree; Some say she drowned it in the pond, But all and each agree, The little babe was buried there, Beneath that Hill of moss so fair. I've heard, the moss is spotted red With drops of that poor infant's blood: But kill a new-born infant thus, I do not think she could! Some say, if to the Pond you go, And that it looks at you; Whene'er you look on it, 'tis plain And some had sworn an oath that she And for full fifty yards around, But all do still aver The little Babe is buried there, Beneath that Hill of moss so fair, I cannot tell how this may be: But plain it is, the Thorn is bound And this I know, full many a time, When all the stars shone clear and bright, Oh woe is me! oh misery!" XXXII. HART-LEAP WELL. Hart-Leap Well is a small spring of water, about five miles from Richmond in Yorkshire, and near the side of the road which leads from Richmond to Askrigg. Its name is derived from a remarkable Chase, the memory of which is preserved by the mo numents spoken of in the second Part of the following Poem which monuments do now exist as I have there described them. THE Knight had ridden down from Wensley moor And "Bring another horse!" he cried aloud. "Another Horse!" That shout the Vassal heard And saddled his best Steed, a comely gray; Sir Walter mounted him; he was the third |