And thought the battled fence[155] so frail,
It waved like cobweb in the gale;—
Amid his senses’ giddy wheel,
Did he not desperate impulse feel,
Headlong to plunge himself below,
And meet the worst his fears foreshow?—
Thus, Ellen, dizzy and astound,[156]
As sudden ruin yawn’d around,
By crossing[157] terrors wildly toss’d,
Still for the Douglas fearing most,