Thenceforward converse flow'd with perfect ease, Midst country wit, and rustic repartees. One drank to Ellen, if such might be found, And archly glanced at female faces round. If one with tilted can began to bawl, Another cried, "Remember Andrew Hall." Then, multifarious topics, corn and hay, Vestry intrigues, the rates they had to pay, The thriving stock, the lands too wet, too dry, And all that bears on fruitful husbandry, Ran mingling through the crowd--a crowd that might, Transferr'd to canvas, give the world delight; A scene that WILKIE might have touch'd with pride-- The May-day banquet then had never died. But who is he, uprisen, with eye so keen, In garb of shining plush of grassy green-- Dogs climbing round him, eager for the start, With ceaseless tail, and doubly beating heart? A stranger, who from distant forests came, The sturdy keeper of the Oakly game. Short prelude made, he pointed o'er the hill, And raised a voice that every ear might fill; His heart was in his theme, and in the forest still. THE FORESTER. [Illustration.] THE FORESTER. Born in a dark wood's lonely dell, Where echoes roar'd, and tendrils curl'd Round a low cot, like hermit's cell, Old Salcey Forest was my world. I felt no bonds, no shackles then, For life in freedom was begun; I gloried in th' exploits of men, And learn'd to lift my father's gun. O what a joy it gave my heart! Wild as a woodbine up I grew; Soon in his feats I bore a part, And counted all the game he slew. I learn'd the wiles, the shifts, the calls, The language of each living thing; I mark'd the hawk that darting falls, Or station'd spreads the trembling wing. I mark'd the owl that silent flits, The hare that feeds at eventide, The upright rabbit, when he sits And mocks you, ere he deigns to hide. I heard the fox bark through the night, I saw the rooks depart at morn, I saw the wild deer dancing light, And heard the hunter's cheering horn. Mad with delight, I roam'd around From morn to eve throughout the year, But still, midst all I sought or found, My favourites were the spotted deer. The elegant, the branching brow, The doe's clean limbs and eyes of love; The fawn as white as mountain snow, That glanced through fern and brier and grove. One dark, autumnal, stormy day, The gale was up in all its might, The roaring forest felt its sway, And clouds were scudding quick as light: A ruthless crash, a hollow groan, Aroused each self-preserving start, The kine in herds, the hare alone, And shagged colts that grazed apart. Midst fears instinctive, wonder drew The boldest forward, gathering strength As darkness lour'd, and whirlwinds blew, To where the ruin stretch'd his length. The shadowing oak, the noblest stem That graced the forest's ample bound, Had cast to earth his diadem; His fractured limbs had delved the ground.