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ALBANIA;
There oft is heard at midnight, or at noon,
Beginning faint, but rising still more loud
And nearer, voice of hunters, and of hounds,
And horns hoarse winded, blowing far and keen;
Forthwith the hubbub multiplies, the gale
Labours with wilder shrieks, and riser din 260
Of hot pursuit, the broken cry of deer
Mangled by throttling dogs, the shouts of men,
And hoofs thick beating on the hollow hill.
Sudden the grazing heifer in the vale
Starts at the noise, and both the herdsman's ears
Tingle with inward dread. Aghast he eyes
The mountains height, and all the ridges round,
Yet not one trace of living wight discerns;
Nor knows, o'erawed, and trembling as he stands,
To what, or whom, he owes his idle fear, 270
To ghost, to witch, to fairy, or to fiend,
But wonders, and no end of wondering finds.
Albania dear, attend! behold I seek
Thy angel night and day with eager feet,
On peopled coast, and western mountain lone,
In city paved, and well-aired village thatched,
From end to end of Scotland many-mined.
Oft too I dare the deep, though winter storms
Beginning faint, but rising still more loud
And nearer, voice of hunters, and of hounds,
And horns hoarse winded, blowing far and keen;
Forthwith the hubbub multiplies, the gale
Labours with wilder shrieks, and riser din 260
Of hot pursuit, the broken cry of deer
Mangled by throttling dogs, the shouts of men,
And hoofs thick beating on the hollow hill.
Sudden the grazing heifer in the vale
Starts at the noise, and both the herdsman's ears
Tingle with inward dread. Aghast he eyes
The mountains height, and all the ridges round,
Yet not one trace of living wight discerns;
Nor knows, o'erawed, and trembling as he stands,
To what, or whom, he owes his idle fear, 270
To ghost, to witch, to fairy, or to fiend,
But wonders, and no end of wondering finds.
Albania dear, attend! behold I seek
Thy angel night and day with eager feet,
On peopled coast, and western mountain lone,
In city paved, and well-aired village thatched,
From end to end of Scotland many-mined.
Oft too I dare the deep, though winter storms
