The spearmen heard the bugle sound,
And cheer'ly smiled the morn;
And many a brach, and many a hound,
Obeyed Llewellyn's horn.

2.

And still he blew a louder blast,
And gave a lustier cheer;

'Come, Gelert, come! wert never last Llewellyn's horn to hear?

3.

Oh where does faithful Gelert roam,
The flower of all his race;

So true, so brave-a lamb at home
A lion in the chase?'

4.

'Twas only at Llewellyn's board

The faithful Gelert fed ;

He watched, he served, he cheered his lord, And sentinelled his bed.

5.

In sooth he was a peerless hound,
The gift of Royal John;

But now no Gelert could be found,
And all the chase rode on.

6.

And now as over rocks and dells
The gallant chidings rise,
All Snowdon's craggy chaos yells
With many mingled cries.

7.

That day Llewellyn little loved

The chase of hart or hare,

And scant and small the booty proved,

For Gelert was not there.

8.

Unpleased Llewellyn homeward hied,
When, near the portal seat,
His truant Gelert he espied,

Bounding his lord to greet.

9.

But when he gained the castle-door,
Aghast the chieftain stood-

The hound all o'er was smeared with gore;
His lips, his fangs ran blood!

LLEWELLYN AND THE GREYHOUND.

10.

Llewellyn gazed with fierce surprise;
Unused such looks to meet,

His favourite checked his joyful guise,
And crouched, and licked his feet.

11.

Onward in haste Llewellyn passed
(And on went Gelert too),

And still, where'er his eyes he cast,
Fresh blood-gouts shocked his view !

12.

O'erturned his infant's bed he found,
The blood-stained cover rent;
And all around the walls and ground
With recent blood besprent.

13.

He called his child-no voice replied;
He searched with terror wild;
Blood! blood! he found on every side,

But nowhere found his child!

14.

'Hell-hound! my child's by thee devoured!'

The frantic father cried;

And to the hilt his vengeful sword

He plunged in Gelert's side.

15.

His suppliant looks, as prone he fell,

No pity could impart ;

But still his Gelert's dying yell

Passed heavy o'er his heart.

31

16.

Aroused by Gelert's dying yell,

Some slumberer wakened nigh; What words the parent's joy can tell, To hear his infant's cry!

17.

Concealed beneath a tumbled heap,
His hurried search had missed,
All glowing from his rosy sleep,
His cherub boy he kissed!

18.

Nor scratch had he, nor harm, nor dread;
But the same couch beneath

Lay a gaunt wolf, all torn and dead;
Tremendous still in death!

19.

Ah, what was then Llewellyn's pain!
For now the truth was clear;
The gallant hound the wolf had slain,
To save Llewellyn's heir.

20.

Vain, vain was all Llewellyn's woe:
'Best of thy kind adieu !

The frantic blow that laid thee low,
This heart shall ever rue!'

21.

And now a gallant tomb they raise,
With costly sculpture decked;
And marbles storied with his praise
Poor Gelert's bones protect.

THE BUTTERFLY'S BALL, AND GRASSHOPPER'S FEAST. 33

22.

Here never could the spearman pass,

Or forester unmoved;

Here oft the tear-besprinkled grass
Llewellyn's sorrow proved.

23.

And here he hung his horn and spear;
And here as evening fell,
In fancy's ear, he oft would hear
Poor Gelert's dying yell!

24.

And till great Snowdon's rocks grow old,

And cease the storm to brave,
The consecrated spot shall hold
The name of Gelert's Grave.

THE BUTTERFLY'S BALL, AND THE
GRASSHOPPER'S FEAST.

1.

COME, take up your hats, and away let us haste
To the butterfly's ball and the grasshopper's feast;
The trumpeter gadfly has summoned the crew,
And the revels are now only waiting for you.

2.

On the smooth-shaven grass, by the side of a wood,
Beneath a broad oak, which for ages had stood,
See the children of earth and the tenants of air
To an evening's amusement together repair.

C