That horrible cry rings through the dark, As the monk steps out of the grounding bark; And he charms a circle around the knoll, Wherein he must sit till the mass bell toll. Then over the lake, with the fiend in tow, To the quarry beyond the monk will go, And bury the Crier with book and bell, While the birds of morning sing him farewell. The morn awoke. As the breezy smile Of dawn played over St. Mary's Isle, The tinkling sound of the mass-bell rose, And startled the valleys from brief repose. Then, like a speck from afar descried, The monk row'd out on the waters wide-- From the Nab row'd out, with the fiend in his wake, To lay him in quiet, across the lake. And fear-struck men, and women that bore Their babes, beheld from height and shore, How he reached the wood that hid the dell, Where he laid the Crier with book and bell. "For the ivy green" the spell was told; "For the ivy green" his knell was knoll'd; That as long as by wall and greenwood tree The ivy flourished, his rest might be. So did the good monk; and thus was laid The Crier in ground by greenwood shade. In the quarry of Claife the wretched ghost To human ear for ever was lost. And country folk in peace again Went forth by night through field and lane, Nor dreaded to hear that terrible note Cry over the water, and hail the boat. And still on that cliff, high over the Mere, When summer is merry, and skies are clear, In holiday times hearts light and gay Look over the hills and far away. But what that night of horror revealed, And what that night and morrow concealed, Of spirits so wicked and given to roam, Lies hid with the monk in St. Mary's Holm. Peace be with him, peaceful soul! Long his bell has ceased to toll. Green the Isle that folds his breast; Clear the Lake that lull'd his rest. Though the many ages gone Long have left his place unknown; Yet where once he kneel'd and pray'd, By his altar long decay'd, Stranger to this Island led! Humbly speak and softly tread; Catching from the ages dim This, the burden of his hymn:-- "Ave, Thou before whose name Wrath and shadows swiftly flee! Arm Thy faithful bands with flame, Earth from foulest foes to free. "Peace on all these valleys round, Breathe from out this Islet's breast; Wafting from this holy ground Seeds of Thy eternal rest. "Wrath and Evil, then no more Here molesting, all shall cease. Peace around! From shore to shore-- Peace! On all Thy waters--peace!" NOTES TO "CRIER OF CLAIFE."