Rookwood. William Harrison Ainsworth

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СКАЧАТЬ seen the old avenue of lime-trees leading to the hall, nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and as noble a row of timber as any in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Well, there is one tree—the last on the left hand before you come to the clock-house—larger than all the rest—a huge piece of timber, with broad spreading branches, and of I know not what girth in the trunk. That tree is, in some mysterious manner, connected with the family of Rookwood, and immediately previous to the death of one of that line, a branch is sure to be shed from the parent stem, prognosticating his doom. But you shall hear the legend." And in a strange sepulchral tone, not inappropriate, however, to his subject, Peter chanted the following ballad:

      THE LEGEND OF THE LIME-TREE

      Amid the grove o'er-arched above with lime-trees old and tall

       —The avenue that leads unto the Rookwood's ancient hall—,

       High o'er the rest its towering crest one tree rears to the sky,

       And wide out-flings, like mighty wings, its arms umbrageously.

      Seven yards its base would scarce embrace—a goodly tree I ween,

       With silver bark, and foliage dark, of melancholy green;

       And mid its boughs two ravens house, and build from year to year,

       Their black brood hatch—their black brood watch—then screaming disappear.

      In that old tree when playfully the summer breezes sigh,

       Its leaves are stirred, and there is heard a low and plaintive cry;

       And when in shrieks the storm blast speaks its reverend boughs among,

       Sad wailing moans, like human groans, the concert harsh prolong.

      But whether gale or calm prevail, or threatening cloud hath fled,

       By hand of Fate, predestinate, a limb that tree will shed;

       A verdant bough—untouched, I trow, by axe or tempest's breath—

       To Rookwood's head an omen dread of fast-approaching death.

      Some think that tree instinct must be with preternatural power.

       Like 'larum bell Death's note to knell at Fate's appointed hour;

       While some avow that on its bough are fearful traces seen,

       Red as the stains from human veins, commingling with the green.

      Others, again, there are maintain that on the shattered bark

       A print is made, where fiends have laid their scathing talons dark;

       That, ere it falls, the raven calls thrice from that wizard bough;

       And that each cry doth signify what space the Fates allow.

      In olden days, the legend says, as grim Sir Ranulph view'd

       A wretched hag her footsteps drag beneath his lordly wood.

       His bloodhounds twain he called amain, and straightway gave her chase;

       Was never seen in forest green, so fierce, so fleet a race!

      With eyes of flame to Ranulph came each red and ruthless hound,

       While mangled, torn—a sight forlorn!—the hag lay on the ground;

       E'en where she lay was turned the clay, and limb and reeking bone

       Within the earth, with ribald mirth, by Ranulph grim were thrown.

      And while as yet the soil was wet with that poor witch's gore,

       A lime-tree stake did Ranulph take, and pierced her bosom's core;

       And, strange to tell, what next befell!—that branch at once took root,

       And richly fed, within its bed, strong suckers forth did shoot.

      From year to year fresh boughs appear—it waxes huge in size;

       And, with wild glee, this prodigy Sir Ranulph grim espies.

       One day, when he, beneath that tree, reclined in joy and pride,

       A branch was found upon the ground—the next, Sir Ranulph died!

      And from that hour a fatal power has ruled that Wizard Tree,

       To Ranulph's line a warning sign of doom and destiny:

       For when a bough is found, I trow, beneath its shade to lie,

       Ere suns shall rise thrice in the skies a Rookwood sure shall die!

      "And such an omen preceded Sir Piers's demise?" said Luke, who had listened with some attention to his grandsire's song.

      "Unquestionably," replied the sexton. "Not longer ago than Tuesday morning, I happened to be sauntering down the avenue I have just described. I know not what took me thither at that early hour, but I wandered leisurely on till I came nigh the Wizard Lime-Tree. Great Heaven! what a surprise awaited me! a huge branch lay right across the path. It had evidently just fallen, for the leaves were green and unwithered; the sap still oozed from the splintered wood; and there was neither trace of knife nor hatchet on the bark. I looked up among the boughs to mark the spot from whence it had been torn by the hand of Fate—for no human hand had done it—and saw the pair of ancestral ravens perched amid the foliage, and croaking as those carrion fowl are wont to do when they scent a carcass afar off. Just then a livelier sound saluted my ears. The cheering cry of a pack of hounds resounded from the courts, and the great gates being thrown open, out issued Sir Piers, attended by a troop of his roystering companions, all on horseback, and all making the welkin ring with their vociferations. Sir Piers laughed as loudly as the rest, but his mirth was speedily checked. No sooner had his horse—old Rook, his favorite steed, who never swerved at stake or pale before—set eyes upon the accursed branch, than he started as if the fiend stood before him, and, rearing backwards, flung his rider from the saddle. At this moment, with loud screams, the wizard ravens took flight. Sir Piers was somewhat hurt by the fall, but he was more frightened than hurt; and though he tried to put a bold face on the matter, it was plain that his efforts to recover himself were fruitless. Dr. Titus Tyrconnel and that wild fellow Jack Palmer—who has lately come to the hall, and of whom you know something—tried to rally him. But it would not do. He broke up the day's sport, and returned dejectedly to the hall. Before departing, however, he addressed a word to me in private, respecting you; and pointed, with a melancholy shake of the head, to the fatal branch. 'It is my death-warrant,' said he, gloomily. And so it proved; two days afterwards his doom was accomplished."

      "And do you place faith in this idle legend?" asked Luke, with affected indifference, although it was evident, from his manner, that he himself was not so entirely free from a superstitious feeling of credulity as he would have it appear.

      "Certes," replied the sexton. "I were more difficult to be convinced than the unbelieving disciple else. Thrice hath it occurred to my own knowledge, and ever with the same result: first, with Sir Reginald; secondly, with thy own mother; and lastly, as I have just told thee, with Sir Piers."

      "I thought you said, even now, that this death omen, if such it be, was always СКАЧАТЬ