The Dart flows in a wild tumultuous stream, and its " cry," in the stillness of night, may be heard far from its banks. It is subject to frequent and sudden inundation. " Dart came down last night" is an expression often in the mouths of the moor-men; and it is said that a year never passes without one person at the least being drowned in the river. Hence the local rhyme:
River of Dart! O river of Dart!
Every year thou claimest a heart — Murray .

I

River of Dart! O river of Dart!
Every year thou claimest a heart.
Beautiful river, through fringe of fern
Gliding swift to the southern sea,
Such is the fame thy wild waves earn,
Such is the dirge men sing by thee:
For the cry of Dart is the voice of doom,
When the floods are out in the moorland gloom.

II

River of Dart! beside thy stream
In the sweet Devon summer I linger and dream;
For thy mystic pools are dark and deep,
And thy flying waters strangely clear,
And the crags are wild by the Lover's Leap,
And thy song of sorrow I will not hear,
While the fierce moor-falcon floats aloft,
And I gaze on eyes that are loving and soft.
III

River of Dart! the praise be thine
For the loving eyes that are meeting mine!
Where thy swift trout leap, and thy swallows dip,
'Neath a gray tor's shadow 'twas mine to know
The pure first touch of a virgin lip,
And the virgin pant of a breast of snow.
River of Dart! O river of Dart!
By thy waters wild I have found a heart.