The Goblin Groom now screamed a scream;
For Goblins hate a running stream;
And, if the truth my records say,
The Elfin Poney neighed a neigh.
The terror of the inhabitants of Alfheim, or Fairy land, for running
water, has been too often asserted to require much comment. Unlicensed
spirits, that wander on the face of the earth, with intentions injurious
to mankind, are always represented as tortured with hydrophobia. The
author cannot hope that he has painted the Goblin’s terror in all the
glowing colours of a Burns,[19] or with the finer tints of a Scott; yet
he flatters himself some beauty may be found, by the admirers of
pleonastic redundancy, in the passage expressive of the horror of the
horse and rider; and he feels that, in this judgment, he will be
supported by the most classical authorities in the English language;
_e.g._