Page:Maid Marian - Peacock (1822).djvu/44

 tively drawing her bow-string and loosing an arrow over his head: he waddled off with singular speed, and was in much awe of her for many months. I thought he had forgotten it: but let that pass. In truth, she would have had little of her lover's company, if she had liked the chaunt of the choristers better than the cry of the hounds: yet I know not: for they were companions from the cradle, and reciprocally fashioned each other to the love of the fern and the fox-glove. Had either been less sylvan, the other might have been more saintly: but they will now never hear matins but those of the lark, nor reverence vaulted aisle but that of the greenwood canopy. They are twin plants of the forest, and are identified with its growth.