University of Virginia Library

“And would'st thou know?” the monster cried;
While back on Marion's maddening breast
His sinking dying victim prest:
“And would'st thou know, thou Child of Pride,
Why I have done the glorious deed,
By which Dunluce's household bleed?
I'll tell thee! in our Scottish annals,
Thy house has work'd us many a woe;
Upon our outrag'd coast, in channels
Has bid the blood of Donnels flow.
E'en from my earliest youth I swore
To' avenge the wrongs my fathers bore;
E'en from my mother's breast I drank
The milk of hatred to your race;
And deep into my heart it sank,
And gave no other passion place.
Intestine broils divided all
The summer of my youth;
But still my soul preserv'd the gall
That was to work your ruth.
I came at last in Friendship's guise,
And ye devour'd the shallow bait;
Fools! read ye not the honest eyes,
That told you of their quenchless hate?
I mark'd your Cave's approach conceal'd,
In idiot confidence reveal'd;
And from that hour conceiv'd the plot,
Should make your name a sanguine blot!
And I have done the deed; and thou,
The boasted of the crew of pride!
May'st seek thy Sire and kindred now
In yonder blood discolour'd tide;
For there they lie: they met their doom
Even in their sanctuaries of slumber;
But I shall want their household room;
So gave the shark their deaths to number;
Go, seek them there—-”

and now his grasp
Had sever'd him from Marion's clasp;
“But no:” exclaim'd the Maid;
“My Sire hath wove a web of slaughter,
And will not sure deny his daughter,
To add another braid.”