His sable plumage tempest-tossed:
And as the death-bell smote the wind,
From towers long fled by human kind,
His brow the hero crossed."
When ships go down at sea during a terrible tempest, it is said the "death-bell" is often distinctly heard amid the storm-wind. And in tales of what is called Gothic superstition, it assists in the terrors of the supernatural.
Sir W. Scott perhaps alluded to the superstition in the lines:
"And the kelpie rang,
And the sea-maid sang
The dirge of lovely Rosabelle."
Eirionnach.