XXIII.
Early they took Dunedin’s road,And I could trace each step they trode;Hill, brook, nor dell, nor rock, nor stone,Lies on the path to me unknown.Much might it boast of storied lore;But, passing such digression o’er,Suffice it that their route was laidAcross the furzy hills of Braid,They passed the glen and scanty rill,And climbed the opposing bank, untilThey gained the top of Blackford Hill.
XXIV.
Blackford! on whose uncultured breast,Among the broom, and thorn, and whin,A truant-boy, I sought the nest,Or listed, as I lay at rest,While rose on breezes thin,The murmur of the city crowd,And, from his steeple jangling loud,Saint Giles’s mingling din.Now, from the summit to the plain,Waves all the hill with yellow grainAnd o’er the landscape as I look,Nought do I see unchanged remain,Save the rude cliffs and chiming brook.To me they make a heavy moan,Of early friendships past and gone.
XXV.
But different far the change has been,Since Marmion, from the crownOf Blackford, saw that martial sceneUpon the bent so brown:Thousand pavilions, white as snow,Spread all the Borough Moor below,Upland, and dale, and down:—A thousand, did I say? I ween,Thousands on thousands there were seen,That chequered all the heath betweenThe streamlet and the town;In crossing ranks extending far,Forming a camp irregular;Oft giving way, where still there stoodSome relics of the old oak wood,That darkly huge did intervene,And tamed the glaring white with green:In these extended lines there layA martial kingdom’s vast array.
XXVI.
For from Hebudes, dark with rain,To eastern Lodon’s fertile plain,And from the southern Redswire edge,To farthest Rosse’s rocky ledge;From west to east, from south to north.Scotland sent all her warriors forth.Marmion might hear the mingled humOf myriads up the mountain come;The horses’ tramp, and tingling clank,Where chiefs reviewed their vassal rank,And charger’s shrilling neigh;And see the shifting lines advanceWhile frequent flashed, from shield and lance,The sun’s reflected ray.
XXVII.
Thin curling in the morning air,The wreaths of failing smoke declare,To embers now the brands decayed,Where the night-watch their fires had made.They saw, slow rolling on the plain,Full many a baggage-cart and wain,And dire artillery’s clumsy car,By sluggish oxen tugged to war;And there were Borthwick’s Sisters Seven,And culverins which France had given.Ill-omened gift! the guns remainThe conqueror’s spoil on Flodden plain.
XXVIII.
Nor marked they less, where in the airA thousand streamers flaunted fair;Various in shape, device, and hue,Green, sanguine, purple, red, and blue,Broad, narrow, swallow-tailed, and square,Scroll, pennon, pensil, bandrol, thereO’er the pavilions flew.Highest and midmost, was descriedThe royal banner floating wide;The staff, a pine-tree strong and straight,Pitched deeply in a massive stone—Which still in memory is shown—Yet bent beneath the standard’s weightWhene’er the western wind unrolled,With toil, the huge and cumbrous fold,And gave to view the dazzling field,Where, in proud Scotland’s royal shield,The ruddy lion ramped in gold.
XXIX.
Lord Marmion viewed the landscape bright—He viewed it with a chief’s delight—Until within him burned his heartAnd lightning from his eye did part,As on the battle-day;Such glance did falcon never dart,When stooping on his prey.“Oh! well, Lord Lion, hast thou said,Thy king from warfare to dissuadeWere but a vain essay:For, by Saint George, were that host mine,Not power infernal, nor divine.Should once to peace my soul incline,Till I had dimmed their armour’s shineIn glorious battle-fray!”Answered the bard, of milder mood—“Fair is the sight—and yet ’twere goodThat kings would think withal,When peace and wealth their land has blessed,’Tis better to sit still at rest,Than rise, perchance to fall.”
XXX.
Still on the spot Lord Marmion stayed,For fairer scene he ne’er surveyed.When sated with the martial showThat peopled all the plain below,The wandering eye could o’er it go,And mark the distant city glowWith gloomy splendour red;For on the smoke-wreaths, huge and slow,That round her sable turrets flow,The morning beams were shed,And tinged them with a lustre proud,Like that which streaks a thunder-cloud.Such dusky grandeur clothed the height,Where the huge castle holds its state,And all the steep slope down,Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky,Piled deep and massy, close and high,Mine own romantic town!But northward far, with purer blaze,On Ochil mountains fell the rays,And as each heathy top they kissed,It gleamed a purple amethyst.Yonder the shores of Fife you saw;Here Preston Bay and Berwick Law:And, broad between them rolled,The gallant Frith the eye might note,Whose islands on its bosom float,Like emeralds chased in gold.Fitz Eustace’ heart felt closely pent;As if to give his rapture vent,The spur he to his charger lent,And raised his bridle hand,And making demivolte in air,Cried, “Where’s the coward that would not dareTo fight for such a land!”The Lindesay smiled his joy to see;Nor Marmion’s frown repressed his glee.
XXXI.
Thus while they looked, a flourish proud,Where mingled trump and clarion loud,And fife and kettle-drum,And sackbut deep, and psaltery,And war-pipe with discordant cry,And cymbal clattering to the sky,Making wild music bold and high,Did up the mountain come;The whilst the bells, with distant chime,Merrily tolled the hour of prime,And thus the Lindesay spoke:“Thus clamour still the war-notes whenThe King to mass his way has ta’en,Or to St. Katharine’s of Sienne,Or chapel of Saint Rocque.To you they speak of martial fame;But me remind of peaceful game,When blither was their cheer,Thrilling in Falkland woods the air,In signal none his steed should spare,But strive which foremost might repairTo the downfall of the deer.
XXXII.
“Nor less,” he said, “when looking forth,I view yon empress of the NorthSit on her hilly throne;Her palace’s imperial bowers,Her castle, proof to hostile powers,Her stately halls and holy towers—Nor less,” he said, “I moan,To think what woe mischance may bring,And how these merry bells may ringThe death-dirge of our gallant king;Or with the ’larum callThe burghers forth to watch and ward,’Gainst Southern sack and fires to guardDunedin’s leaguered wall.But not for my presaging thought,Dream conquest sure, or cheaply bought!Lord Marmion, I say nay:God is the guider of the field,He breaks the champion’s spear and shield—But thou thyself shalt say,When joins yon host in deadly stowre,That England’s dames must weep in bower,Her monks the death-mass sing;For never saw’st thou such a powerLed on by such a king.”And now, down winding to the plain,The barriers of the camp they gain,And there they made a stay.There stays the minstrel, till he flingHis hand o’er every Border string,And fit his harp the pomp to sing,Of Scotland’s ancient court and king,In the succeeding lay.
To George Ellis,Esq.
Edinburgh.
Whendark December glooms the day,And takes our autumn joys away;When short and scant the sunbeam throws,Upon the weary waste of snows,A cold and profitless regard,Like patron on a needy bard,When silvan occupation’s done,And o’er the chimney rests the gun,And hang, in idle trophy, near,The game-pouch, fishing-rod, and spear;When wiry terrier, rough and grim,And greyhound, with his length of limb,And pointer, now employed no more,Cumber our parlour’s narrow floor;When in his stall the impatient steedIs long condemned to rest and feed;When from our snow-encircled home,Scarce cares the hardiest step to roam,Since path is none, save that to bringThe needful water from the spring;When wrinkled news-page, thrice conned o’er,Beguiles the dreary hour no more,And darkling politican, crossedInveighs against the lingering post,And answering housewife sore complainsOf carriers’ snow-impeded wains;When such the country cheer, I come,Well pleased, to seek our city home;For converse, and for books, to changeThe Forest’s melancholy range,And welcome, with renewed delight,The busy day and social night.Not here need my desponding rhymeLament the ravages of time,As erst by Newark’s riven towers,And Ettrick stripped of forest bowers.True—Caledonia’s Queen is changed,Since on her dusky summit ranged,Within its steepy limits pent,By bulwark, line, and battlement,And flanking towers, and laky flood,Guarded and garrisoned she stood,Denying entrance or resort,Save at each tall embattled port;Above whose arch, suspended, hungPortcullis spiked with iron prong.That long is gone,—but not so long,Since, early closed, and opening late,Jealous revolved the studded gate,Whose task, from eve to morning tide,A wicket churlishly supplied.Stern then, and steel-girt was thy brow,Dunedin! Oh, how altered now,When safe amid thy mountain courtThou sitt’st, like empress at her sport,And liberal, unconfined, and free,Flinging thy white arms to the sea,For thy dark cloud, with umbered lower,That hung o’er cliff, and lake, and tower,Thou gleam’st against the western rayTen thousand lines of brighter day.Not she, the championess of old,In Spenser’s magic tale enrolled,She for the charméd spear renowned,Which forced each knight to kiss the ground—Not she more changed, when, placed at rest,What time she was Malbecco’s guest,She gave to flow her maiden vest;When from the corslet’s grasp relieved,Free to the sight her bosom heaved;Sweet was her blue eye’s modest smile,Erst hidden by the aventayle;And down her shoulders graceful rolledHer locks profuse, of paly gold.They who whilom, in midnight fight,Had marvelled at her matchless might,No less her maiden charms approved,But looking liked, and liking loved.The sight could jealous pangs beguile,And charm Malbecco’s cares a while;And he, the wandering squire of dames,Forgot his Columbella’s claims,And passion, erst unknown, could gainThe breast of blunt Sir Satyrane;Nor durst light Paridel advance,Bold as he was, a looser glance.She charmed at once, and tamed the heart,Incomparable Britomarte!So thou, fair city! disarrayedOf battled wall, and rampart’s aid,As stately seem’st, but lovelier farThan in that panoply of war.Nor deem that from thy fenceless throneStrength and security are flown;Still as of yore Queen of the North!Still canst thou send thy children forth.Ne’er readier at alarm-bell’s callThy burghers rose to man thy wall,Than now, in danger, shall be thine,Thy dauntless voluntary line;For fosse and turret proud to stand,Their breasts the bulwarks of the land.Thy thousands, trained to martial toil,Full red would stain their native soil,Ere from thy mural crown there fellThe slightest knosp or pinnacle.And if it come—as come it may,Dunedin! that eventful day—Renowned for hospitable deed,That virtue much with Heaven may pleadIn patriarchal times whose careDescending angels deigned to share;That claim may wrestle blessings downOn those who fight for the good town,Destined in every age to beRefuge of injured royalty;Since first, when conquering York arose,To Henry meek she gave repose,Till late, with wonder, grief, and awe,Great Bourbon’s relics, sad she saw.Truce to these thoughts!—for, as they rise,How gladly I avert mine eyes,Bodings, or true or false, to change,For Fiction’s fair romantic range,Or for tradition’s dubious light,That hovers ’twixt the day and night:Dazzling alternately and dim,Her wavering lamp I’d rather trim,Knights, squires, and lovely dames, to seeCreation of my fantasy,Than gaze abroad on reeky fen,And make of mists invading men.Who love not more the night of JuneThan dull December’s gloomy noon?The moonlight than the fog of frost?And can we say which cheats the most?But who shall teach my harp to gainA sound of the romantic strain,Whose Anglo-Norman tones whilereCould win the royal Henry’s ear,Famed Beauclerc called, for that he lovedThe minstrel, and his lay approved?Who shall these lingering notes redeem,Decaying on Oblivion’s stream;Such notes as from the Breton tongueMarie translated, Blondel sung?O! born Time’s ravage to repair,And make the dying muse thy care;Who, when his scythe her hoary foeWas poising for the final blow,The weapon from his hand could wring,And break his glass, and shear his wing,And bid, reviving in his strain,The gentle poet live again;Thou, who canst give to lightest layAn unpedantic moral gay,Nor less the dullest theme bid flitOn wings of unexpected wit;In letters as in life approved,Example honoured and beloved—Dear Ellis! to the bard impartA lesson of thy magic art,To win at once the head and heart—At once to charm, instruct, and mend,My guide, my pattern, and my friend!Such minstrel lesson to bestowBe long thy pleasing task—but, oh!No more by thy example teach—What few can practise, all can preach—With even patience to endureLingering disease, and painful cure,And boast affliction’s pangs subduedBy mild and manly fortitude.Enough, the lesson has been given:Forbid the repetition, Heaven!Come, listen, then! for thou hast known,And loved the minstrel’s varying tone,Who, like his Border sires of old,Waked a wild measure rude and bold,Till Windsor’s oaks, and Ascot plain,With wonder heard the Northern strain.Come, listen! bold in thy applause,The bard shall scorn pedantic laws;And, as the ancient art could stainAchievements on the storied pane,Irregularly traced and planned,But yet so glowing and so grand—So shall he strive in changeful hue,Field, feast, and combat to renew,And loves, and arms, and harpers’ glee,And all the pomp of chivalry.
I.
Thetrain has left the hills of Braid;The barrier guard have open made(So Lindesay bade) the palisade,That closed the tented ground;Their men the warders backward drew,And carried pikes as they rode throughInto its ample bound.Fast ran the Scottish warriors there,Upon the Southern band to stare.And envy with their wonder rose,To see such well-appointed foes;Such length of shaft, such mighty bows,So huge, that many simply thought,But for a vaunt such weapons wrought;And little deemed their force to feel,Through links of mail, and plates of steel,When rattling upon Flodden vale,The clothyard arrows flew like hail.
II.
Nor less did Marmion’s skilful viewGlance every line and squadron through;And much he marvelled one small landCould marshal forth such various band:For men-at-arms were here,Heavily sheathed in mail and plate,Like iron towers for strength and weight,On Flemish steeds of bone and height,With battle-axe and spear.Young knights and squires, a lighter train,Practised their chargers on the plain,By aid of leg, of hand, and rein,Each warlike feat to show,To pass, to wheel, the croupe to gain,The high curvet, that not in vainThe sword sway might descend amainOn foeman’s casque below.He saw the hardy burghers thereMarch armed, on foot, with faces bare,For vizor they wore none,Nor waving plume, nor crest of knight;But burnished were their corslets bright,Their brigantines, and gorgets light,Like very silver shone.Long pikes they had for standing fight,Two-handed swords they wore,And many wielded mace of weight,And bucklers bright they bore.
III.
On foot the yeomen too, but dressedIn his steel-jack, a swarthy vest,With iron quilted well;Each at his back (a slender store)His forty days’ provision bore,As feudal statutes tell.His arms were halbert, axe, or spear,A crossbow there, a hagbut here,A dagger-knife, and brand.Sober he seemed, and sad of cheer,As loth to leave his cottage dear,And march to foreign strand;Or musing who would guide his steerTo till the fallow land.Yet deem not in his thoughtful eyeDid aught of dastard terror lie;More dreadful far his ireThan theirs, who, scorning danger’s name,In eager mood to battle came,Their valour like light straw on flame,A fierce but fading fire.
IV.
Not so the Borderer:—bred to war,He knew the battle’s din afar,And joyed to hear it swell.His peaceful day was slothful ease;Nor harp, nor pipe, his ear could pleaseLike the loud slogan yell.On active steed, with lance and blade,The light-armed pricker plied his trade—Let nobles fight for fame;Let vassals follow where they lead,Burghers to guard their townships bleed,But war’s the Borderer’s game.Their gain, their glory, their delight,To sleep the day, maraud the nightO’er mountain, moss, and moor;Joyful to fight they took their way,Scarce caring who might win the day,Their booty was secure.These, as Lord Marmion’s train passed by,Looked on at first with careless eye,Nor marvelled aught, well taught to knowThe form and force of English bow;But when they saw the lord arrayedIn splendid arms and rich brocade,Each Borderer to his kinsman said:—“Hist, Ringan! seest thou there!Canst guess which road they’ll homeward ride?Oh! could we but on Border side,By Eusedale glen, or Liddell’s tide,Beset a prize so fair!That fangless Lion, too, their guide,Might chance to lose his glistering hide;Brown Maudlin, of that doublet piedCould make a kirtle rare.”
V.
Next, Marmion marked the Celtic race,Of different language, form, and face—Avarious race of man;Just then the chiefs their tribes arrayed,And wild and garish semblance madeThe chequered trews and belted plaid,And varying notes the war-pipes brayedTo every varying clan;Wild through their red or sable hairLooked out their eyes with savage stareOn Marmion as he passed;Their legs above the knee were bare;Their frame was sinewy, short, and spare,And hardened to the blast;Of taller race, the chiefs they ownWere by the eagle’s plumage known.The hunted red-deer’s undressed hideTheir hairy buskins well supplied;The graceful bonnet decked their head;Back from their shoulders hung the plaid;A broadsword of unwieldy length,A dagger proved for edge and strength,A studded targe they wore,And quivers, bows, and shafts,—but, oh!Short was the shaft and weak the bowTo that which England bore.The Islesmen carried at their backsThe ancient Danish battle-axe.They raised a wild and wondering cryAs with his guide rode Marmion by.Loud were their clamouring tongues, as whenThe clanging sea-fowl leave the fen,And, with their cries discordant mixed,Grumbled and yelled the pipes betwixt.
VI.
Thus through the Scottish camp they passed,And reached the city gate at last,Where all around, a wakeful guard,Armed burghers kept their watch and ward.Well had they cause of jealous fear,When lay encamped, in field so near,The Borderer and the Mountaineer.As through the bustling streets they go,All was alive with martial show;At every turn, with dinning clang,The armourer’s anvil clashed and rang;Or toiled the swarthy smith, to wheelThe bar that arms the charger’s heel;Or axe or falchion to the sideOf jarring grindstone was applied.Page, groom, and squire, with hurrying pace,Through street and lane and market-placeBore lance, or casque, or sword;While burghers, with important face,Described each new-come lord,Discussed his lineage, told his name,His following and his warlike fame.The Lion led to lodging meet,Which high o’erlooked the crowded street;There must the baron restTill past the hour of vesper tide,And then to Holyrood must ride—Such was the king’s behest.Meanwhile the Lion’s care assignsA banquet rich, and costly wines,To Marmion and his train;And when the appointed hour succeeds,The baron dons his peaceful weeds,And following Lindesay as he leads,The palace-halls they gain.
VII.
Old Holyrood rung merrilyThat night with wassail, mirth, and glee:King James within her princely bowerFeasted the chiefs of Scotland’s power,Summoned to spend the parting hour;For he had charged that his arrayShould southward march by break of day.Well loved that splendid monarch ayeThe banquet and the song,By day the tourney, and by nightThe merry dance, traced fast and light,The maskers quaint, the pageant bright,The revel loud and long.This feast outshone his banquets past:It was his blithest—and his last.The dazzling lamps, from gallery gay,Cast on the Court a dancing ray;Here to the harp did minstrels sing;There ladies touched a softer string;With long-eared cap and motley vestThe licensed fool retailed his jest;His magic tricks the juggler plied;At dice and draughts the gallants vied;While some, in close recess apart,Courted the ladies of their heart,Nor courted them in vain;For often in the parting hourVictorious Love asserts his powerO’er coldness and disdain;And flinty is her heart, can viewTo battle march a lover true—Can hear, perchance, his last adieu,Nor own her share of pain.
VIII.
Through this mixed crowd of glee and game,The King to greet Lord Marmion came,While, reverent, all made room.An easy task it was, I trow,King James’s manly form to know,Although, his courtesy to show,He doffed, to Marmion bending low,His broidered cap and plume.For royal was his garb and mien:His cloak, of crimson velvet piled.Trimmed with the fur of martin wild;His vest of changeful satin sheenThe dazzled eye beguiled;His gorgeous collar hung adown,Wrought with the badge of Scotland’s crown,The thistle brave, of old renown;His trusty blade, Toledo right,Descended from a baldric bright:White were his buskins, on the heelHis spurs inlaid of gold and steel;His bonnet, all of crimson fair,Was buttoned with a ruby rare:And Marmion deemed he ne’er had seenA prince of such a noble mien.
IX.
The monarch’s form was middle size:For feat of strength or exerciseShaped in proportion fair;And hazel was his eagle eye,And auburn of the darkest dyeHis short curled beard and hair.Light was his footstep in the dance,And firm his stirrup in the lists:And, oh! he had that merry glanceThat seldom lady’s heart resists.Lightly from fair to fair he flew,And loved to plead, lament, and sue—Suit lightly won and short-lived pain,For monarchs seldom sigh in vain.I said he joyed in banquet bower;But, ’mid his mirth, ’twas often strangeHow suddenly his cheer would change,His look o’ercast and lower,If, in a sudden turn, he feltThe pressure of his iron belt,That bound his breast in penance pain,In memory of his father slain.Even so ’twas strange how, evermore,Soon as the passing pang was o’erForward he rushed, with double glee,Into the stream of revelry:Thus dim-seen object of affrightStartles the courser in his flight,And half he halts, half springs aside;But feels the quickening spur applied,And, straining on the tightened rein,Scours doubly swift o’er hill and plain.
X.
O’er James’s heart, the courtiers say,Sir Hugh the Heron’s wife held sway:To Scotland’s Court she came,To be a hostage for her lord,Who Cessford’s gallant heart had gored,And with the king to make accordHad sent his lovely dame.Nor to that lady free aloneDid the gay king allegiance own;For the fair Queen of FranceSent him a turquoise ring and glove,And charged him, as her knight and love,For her to break a lance;And strike three strokes with Scottish brand,And march three miles on Southron land,And bid the banners of his bandIn English breezes dance.And thus for France’s queen he drestHis manly limbs in mailèd vest;And thus admitted English fairHis inmost counsels still to share:And thus, for both, he madly plannedThe ruin of himself and land!And yet, the sooth to tell,Nor England’s fair, nor France’s Queen,Were worth one pearl-drop, bright and sheen,From Margaret’s eyes that fell,His own Queen Margaret, who, in Lithgow’s bower,All lonely sat, and wept the weary hour.
XI.
The queen sits lone in Lithgow pile,And weeps the weary day,The war against her native soil,Her monarch’s risk in battle broil;And in gay Holyrood the whileDame Heron rises with a smileUpon the harp to play.Fair was her rounded arm, as o’erThe strings her fingers flew;And as she touched and tuned them all,Ever her bosom’s rise and fallWas plainer given to view;For, all for heat, was laid asideHer wimple, and her hood untied.And first she pitched her voice to sing,Then glanced her dark eye on the king,And then around the silent ring;And laughed, and blushed, and oft did sayHer pretty oath, By yea and nay,She could not, would not, durst not play!At length upon the harp with glee,Mingled with arch simplicity,A soft yet lively air she rung,While thus the wily lady sung:—
XII.LOCHINVAR.
Oh! young Lochinvar is come out of the west,Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;And save his good broadsword, he weapons had none,He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone;So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.
He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone;He swam the Esk river, where ford there was none;But ere he alighted at Netherby gate,The bride had consented, the gallant came late;For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war,Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar.
So boldly he entered the Netherby Hall,Among bride’s-men, and kinsmen, and brothers, and all;Then spoke the bride’s father, his hand on his sword—For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word—“Oh! come ye in peace here, or come ye in war,Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?”
“I long wooed your daughter, my suit you denied;Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide;And now am I come, with this lost love of mine,To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine.There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far,That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar.”
The bride kissed the goblet: the knight took it up,He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the cup.She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh,With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar—“Now tread we a measure!” said young Lochinvar.
So stately his form, and so lovely her face,That never a hall such a galliard did grace;While her mother did fret, and her father did fume,And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume:And the bride’s-maidens whispered, “’Twere better by farTo have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar.”
One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear,When they reached the hall-door, and the charger stood near;So light to the croup the fair lady he swung,So light to the saddle before her he sprung.“She is won! we are gone, over bank, bush, and scaur;They’ll have fleet steeds that follow,” quoth young Lochinvar.
There was mounting ’mong Graemes of the Netherby clan;Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they ran:There was racing and chasing on Cannobie Lee,But the lost bride of Netherby ne’er did they see.So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,Have ye e’er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?
XIII.
The monarch o’er the siren hung,And beat the measure as she sung;And, pressing closer and more near,He whispered praises in her ear.In loud applause the courtiers vied,And ladies winked and spoke aside.The witching dame to Marmion threwA glance, where seemed to reignThe pride that claims applauses due,And of her royal conquest too,A real or feigned disdain:Familiar was the look, and toldMarmion and she were friends of old.The king observed their meeting eyesWith something like displeased surprise:For monarchs ill can rivals brook,E’en in a word or smile or look.Straight took he forth the parchment broadWhich Marmion’s high commission showed:“Our Borders sacked by many a raid,Our peaceful liegemen robbed,” he said;“On day of truce our warden slain,Stout Barton killed, his vassals ta’en—Unworthy were we here to reign,Should these for vengeance cry in vain;Our full defiance, hate, and scorn,Our herald has to Henry borne.”
XIV.
He paused, and led where Douglas stood,And with stern eye the pageant viewed—I mean that Douglas, sixth of yore,Who coronet of Angus bore,And, when his blood and heart were high,Did the third James in camp defy,And all his minions led to dieOn Lauder’s dreary flat:Princes and favourites long grew tame,And trembled at the homely nameOf Archibald Bell-the-Cat;The same who left the dusky valeOf Hermitage in Liddisdale,Its dungeons and its towers,Where Bothwell’s turrets brave the air,And Bothwell bank is blooming fair,To fix his princely bowers.Though now in age he had laid downHis armour for the peaceful gown,And for a staff his brand,Yet often would flash forth the fireThat could in youth a monarch’s ireAnd minion’s pride withstand;And e’en that day, at council board,Unapt to soothe his sovereign’s mood,Against the war had Angus stood,And chafed his royal lord.
XV.
His giant form like ruined tower,Though fall’n its muscles’ brawny vaunt,Huge-boned, and tall, and grim, and gaunt,Seemed o’er the gaudy scene to lower:His locks and beard in silver grew;His eyebrows kept their sable hue.Near Douglas when the monarch stood,His bitter speech he thus pursued:“Lord Marmion, since these letters sayThat in the north you needs must stayWhile slightest hopes of peace remain,Uncourteous speech it were, and stern,To say—return to LindisfarneUntil my herald come again.Then rest you in Tantallon Hold;Your host shall be the Douglas bold—A chief unlike his sires of old.He wears their motto on his blade,Their blazon o’er his towers displayed;Yet loves his sovereign to oppose,More than to face his country’s foes.And, I bethink me, by Saint Stephen,But e’en this morn to me was givenA prize, the first-fruits of the war,Ta’en by a galley from Dunbar,A bevy of the maids of Heaven.Under your guard these holy maidsShall safe return to cloister shades;And, while they at Tantallon stay,Requiem for Cochrane’s soul may say.”And with the slaughtered favourite’s nameAcross the monarch’s brow there cameA cloud of ire, remorse, and shame.
XVI.
In answer nought could Angus speak;His proud heart swelled well-nigh to break:He turned aside, and down his cheekA burning tear there stole.His hand the monarch sudden took;That sight his kind heart could not brook:“Now, by the Bruce’s soul,Angus, my hasty speech forgive!For sure as doth his spirit live,As he said of the Douglas old,I well may say of you—That never king did subject holdIn speech more free, in war more bold,More tender and more true:Forgive me, Douglas, once again.”And while the king his hand did strain,The old man’s tears fell down like rain.To seize the moment Marmion tried,And whispered to the king aside:“Oh! let such tears unwonted pleadFor respite short from dubious deed!A child will weep a bramble’s smart,A maid to see her sparrow part,A stripling for a woman’s heart:But woe awaits a country whenShe sees the tears of bearded men.Then, oh! what omen, dark and high,When Douglas wets his manly eye!”
XVII.
Displeased was James, that stranger viewedAnd tampered with his changing mood.“Laugh those that can, weep those that may,”Thus did the fiery monarch say,“Southward I march by break of day;And if within Tantallon strong,The good Lord Marmion tarries long,Perchance our meeting next may fallAt Tamworth, in his castle-hall.”The haughty Marmion felt the taunt,And answered, grave, the royal vaunt:—“Much honoured were my humble homeIf in its halls King James should come;But Nottingham has archers good,And Yorkshire-men are stern of mood;Northumbrian prickers wild and rude.On Derby hills the paths are steep;In Ouse and Tyne the fords are deep;And many a banner will be torn,And many a knight to earth be borne,And many a sheaf of arrows spent,Ere Scotland’s king shall cross the Trent:Yet pause, brave prince, while yet you may.”The monarch lightly turned away,And to his nobles loud did call,“Lords, to the dance—a hall! a hall!”Himself his cloak and sword flung by,And led Dame Heron gallantly;And minstrels, at the royal order,Rung out “Blue Bonnets o’er the Border.”
XVIII.
Leave we these revels now, to tellWhat to Saint Hilda’s maids befell,Whose galley, as they sailed againTo Whitby, by a Scot was ta’en.Now at Dunedin did they bide,Till James should of their fate decide;And soon, by his command,Were gently summoned to prepareTo journey under Marmion’s care,As escort honoured, safe, and fair,Again to English land.The Abbess told her chaplet o’er,Nor knew which saint she should implore;For when she thought of Constance, soreShe feared Lord Marmion’s mood.And judge what Clara must have felt!The sword that hung in Marmion’s beltHad drunk De Wilton’s blood.Unwittingly, King James had given,As guard to Whitby’s shades,The man most dreaded under heavenBy these defenceless maids:Yet what petition could avail,Or who would listen to the taleOf woman, prisoner, and nun,’Mid bustle of a war begun?They deemed it hopeless to avoidThe convoy of their dangerous guide.
XIX.
Their lodging, so the king assigned,To Marmion’s, as their guardian, joined;And thus it fell that, passing nigh,The Palmer caught the Abbess’ eye,Who warned him by a scrollShe had a secret to revealThat much concerned the Church’s wealAnd health of sinner’s soul;And with deep charge of secrecyShe named a place to meet,Within an open balconyThat hung from dizzy pitch, and highAbove the stately street;To which, as common to each home,At night they might in secret come.
XX.
At night, in secret, there they came,The Palmer and the holy dame.The moon among the clouds rose high,And all the city hum was by.Upon the street, where late beforeDid din of war and warriors roar,You might have heard a pebble fall,A beetle hum, a cricket sing,An owlet flap his boding wingOn Giles’s steeple tall.The antique buildings, climbing high,Whose Gothic frontlets sought the sky,Were here wrapt deep in shade;There on their brows the moonbeam brokeThrough the faint wreaths of silvery smoke,And on the casements played.And other light was none to see,Save torches gliding far,Before some chieftain of degree,Who left the royal revelryTo bowne him for the war.A solemn scene the Abbess chose;A solemn hour, her secret to disclose.
XXI.
“O holy Palmer!” she began—“For sure he must be sainted manWhose blessèd feet have trod the groundWhere the Redeemer’s tomb is found—For His dear Church’s sake my taleAttend, nor deem of light avail,Though I must speak of worldly love—How vain to those who wed above!De Wilton and Lord Marmion wooedClara de Clare, of Gloucester’s blood;Idle it were of Whitby’s dame,To say of that same blood I came;And once, when jealous rage was high,Lord Marmion said despiteously,Wilton was traitor in his heart,And had made league with Martin Swart,When he came here on Simnel’s partAnd only cowardice did restrainHis rebel aid on Stokefield’s plain,And down he threw his glove: the thingWas tried, as wont, before the king;Where frankly did De Wilton ownThat Swart in Gueldres he had known;And that between them then there wentSome scroll of courteous compliment.For this he to his castle sent;But when his messenger returned,Judge how De Wilton’s fury burnedFor in his packet there were laidLetters that claimed disloyal aid,And proved King Henry’s cause betrayed.His fame, thus blighted, in the fieldHe strove to clear by spear and shield;To clear his fame in vain he strove,For wondrous are His ways above!Perchance some form was unobserved;Perchance in prayer or faith he swerved;Else how could guiltless champion quail,Or how the blessèd ordeal fail?
XXII.
“His squire, who now De Wilton sawAs recreant doomed to suffer law,Repentant, owned in vain,That while he had the scrolls in care,A stranger maiden, passing fair,Had drenched him with a beverage rare;His words no faith could gain.With Clare alone he credence won,Who, rather than wed Marmion,Did to Saint Hilda’s shrine repair,To give our house her livings fair,And die a vestal vot’ress there.The impulse from the earth was given,But bent her to the paths of heaven.A purer heart, a lovelier maid,Ne’er sheltered her in Whitby’s shade,No, not since Saxon Edelfled:Only one trace of earthly strain,That for her lover’s lossShe cherishes a sorrow vain,And murmurs at the cross.And then her heritage;—it goesAlong the banks of Tame;Deep fields of grain the reaper mows,In meadows rich the heifer lows,The falconer and huntsman knowsIts woodlands for the game.Shame were it to Saint Hilda dear,And I, her humble vot’ress here,Should do a deadly sin,Her temple spoiled before mine eyes,If this false Marmion such a prizeBy my consent should win;Yet hath our boisterous monarch swornThat Clare shall from our house be torn;And grievous cause have I to fearSuch mandate doth Lord Marmion bear.
XXIII.
“Now, prisoner, helpless, and betrayedTo evil power, I claim thine aid,By every step that thou hast trodTo holy shrine and grotto dim,By every martyr’s tortured limb,By angel, saint, and seraphim,And by the Church of God!For mark:—When Wilton was betrayed,And with his squire forged letters laid,She was, alas! that sinful maidBy whom the deed was done—Oh! shame and horror to be said!—She was a perjured nun!No clerk in all the land, like herTraced quaint and varying character.Perchance you may a marvel deemThat Marmion’s paramour(For such vile thing she was) should schemeHer lover’s nuptial hour;But o’er him thus she hoped to gain,As privy to his honour’s stain,Illimitable power:For this she secretly retainedEach proof that might the plot reveal,Instructions with his hand and seal;And thus Saint Hilda deigned,Through sinners’ perfidy impure,Her house’s glory to secureAnd Clare’s immortal weal.
XXIV.
“’Twere long and needless here to tellHow to my hand these papers fell;With me they must not stay.Saint Hilda keep her Abbess true!Who knows what outrage he might doWhile journeying by the way?O blessèd saint, if e’er againI venturous leave thy calm domain,To travel or by land or main,Deep penance may I pay!Now, saintly Palmer, mark my prayer:I give this packet to thy care,For thee to stop they will not dare;And, oh! with cautious speedTo Wolsey’s hand the papers bring,That he may show them to the kingAnd for thy well-earned meed,Thou holy man, at Whitby’s shrineA weekly mass shall still be thineWhile priests can sing and read.What ail’st thou? Speak!” For as he tookThe charge, a strong emotion shookHis frame; and, ere reply,They heard a faint yet shrilly tone,Like distant clarion feebly blown,That on the breeze did die;And loud the Abbess shrieked in fear,“Saint Withold, save us! What is here?Look at yon city cross!See, on its battled tower appearPhantoms, that scutcheons seem to rear,And blazoned banners toss!”
XXV.
Dunedin’s Cross, a pillared stone,Rose on a turret octagon;(But now is razed that monumentWhence royal edict rang,And voice of Scotland’s law was sentIn glorious trumpet-clang.Oh! be his tomb as lead to leadUpon its dull destroyer’s head!—A minstrel’s malison is said).Then on its battlements they sawA vision, passing Nature’s law,Strange, wild, and dimly seen—Figures that seemed to rise and die,Gibber and sign, advance and fly,While nought confirmed could ear or eyeDiscern of sound or mien.Yet darkly did it seem, as thereHeralds and pursuivants prepare,With trumpet sound and blazon fair,A summons to proclaim;But indistinct the pageant proud,As fancy-forms of midnight cloud,When flings the moon upon her shroudA wavering tinge of flame;It flits, expands, and shifts, till loud,From midmost of the spectre crowd,This awful summons came:—
XXVI.
“Prince, prelate, potentate, and peer,Whose names I now shall call,Scottish, or foreigner, give ear!Subjects of him who sent me here,At his tribunal to appearI summon one and all:I cite you by each deadly sinThat e’er hath soiled your hearts within;I cite you by each brutal lustThat e’er defiled your earthly dust—By wrath, by pride, by fear;By each o’er-mastering passion’s tone,By the dark grave and dying groan!When forty days are passed and gone,I cite you, at your monarch’s throne,To answer and appear.”Then thundered forth a roll of names;The first was thine, unhappy James!Then all thy nobles came:—Crawford, Glencairn, Montrose, Argyle,Ross, Bothwell, Forbes, Lennox, Lyle—Why should I tell their separate style?Each chief of birth and fame,Of Lowland, Highland, Border, Isle,Foredoomed to Flodden’s carnage pile,Was cited there by name;And Marmion, Lord of Fontenaye,Of Lutterward and Scrivelbaye;De Wilton, erst of Aberley,The self-same thundering voice did say.But then another spoke:“Thy fatal summons I deny,And thine infernal lord defy,Appealing me to Him on high,Who burst the sinner’s yoke.”At that dread accent, with a scream.Parted the pageant like a dream,The summoner was gone.Prone on her face the Abbess fell,And fast and fast her beads did tell;Her nuns came, startled by the yell,And found her there alone.She marked not, at the scene aghast,What time, or how, the Palmer passed.
XXVII.
Shift we the scene. The camp doth move;Dunedin’s streets are empty now,Save when, for weal of those they love,To pray the prayer, and vow the vow,The tottering child, the anxious fair,The grey-haired sire, with pious care,To chapels and to shrines repair—Where is the Palmer now? and whereThe Abbess, Marmion, and Clare?Bold Douglas! to Tantallon fairThey journey in thy charge.Lord Marmion rode on his right hand,The Palmer still was with the band;Angus, like Lindesay, did commandThat none should roam at large.But in that Palmer’s altered mienA wondrous change might now be seen;Freely he spoke of war,Of marvels wrought by single handWhen lifted for a native land;And still looked high, as if he plannedSome desperate deed afar.His courser would he feed and stroke,And, tucking up his sable frock,Would first his mettle bold provoke,Then soothe or quell his pride.Old Hubert said, that never oneHe saw, except Lord Marmion,A steed so fairly ride.
XXVIII.
Some half-hour’s march behind, there came,By Eustace governed fair,A troop escorting Hilda’s dame,With all her nuns and Clare.No audience had Lord Marmion sought;Ever he feared to aggravateClara de Clare’s suspicious hate;And safer ’twas, he thought,To wait till, from the nuns removed,The influence of kinsmen loved,And suit by Henry’s self approved,Her slow consent had wrought.His was no flickering flame, that diesUnless when fanned by looks and sighs,And lighted oft at lady’s eyes;He longed to stretch his wide commandO’er luckless Clara’s ample land;Besides, when Wilton with him vied,Although the pang of humbled prideThe place of jealousy supplied,Yet conquest, by that meanness wonHe almost loathed to think upon,Led him, at times, to hate the causeWhich made him burst through honour’s lawsIf e’er he loved, ’twas her aloneWho died within that vault of stone.
XXIX.
And now when close at hand they sawNorth Berwick’s town and lofty Law,Fitz-Eustace bade them pause awhileBefore a venerable pile,Whose turrets viewed, afar,The lofty Bass, the Lambie Isle,The ocean’s peace or war.At tolling of a bell, forth cameThe convent’s venerable dame,And prayed Saint Hilda’s Abbess restWith her, a loved and honoured guest,Till Douglas should a barque prepareTo waft her back to Whitby fair.Glad was the Abbess, you may guess,And thanked the Scottish Prioress;And tedious were to tell, I ween,The courteous speech that passed between.O’erjoyed, the nuns their palfreys leave;But when fair Clara did intend,Like them, from horseback to descend,Fitz-Eustace said, “I grieve,Fair lady—grieve e’en from my heart—Such gentle company to part;Think not discourtesy,But lords’ commands must be obeyed;And Marmion and the Douglas saidThat you must wend with me.Lord Marmion hath a letter broad,Which to the Scottish earl he showed,Commanding that beneath his careWithout delay you shall repairTo your good kinsman, Lord Fitz-Clare.”
XXX.
The startled Abbess loud exclaimed;But she at whom the blow was aimedGrew pale as death, and cold as lead—She deemed she heard her death-doom read.“Cheer thee, my child,” the Abbess said;“They dare not tear thee from my handTo ride alone with armèd band.”“Nay, holy mother, nay,”Fitz-Eustace said, “the lovely ClareWill be in Lady Angus’ care,In Scotland while we stay;And when we move, an easy rideWill bring us to the English side,Female attendance to provideBefitting Gloucester’s heir;Nor thinks, nor dreams, my noble lord,By slightest look, or act, or word,To harass Lady Clare.Her faithful guardian he will be,Nor sue for slightest courtesyThat e’en to stranger falls.Till he shall place her, safe and free,Within her kinsman’s halls.”He spoke, and blushed with earnest grace;His faith was painted on his face,And Clare’s worst fear relieved.The Lady Abbess loud exclaimedOn Henry, and the Douglas blamed,Entreated, threatened, grieved;To martyr, saint, and prophet prayed,Against Lord Marmion inveighed,And called the Prioress to aid,To curse with candle, bell, and book.Her head the grave Cistercian shook:“The Douglas and the King,” she said,“In their commands will be obeyed;Grieve not, nor dream that harm can fallThe maiden in Tantallon Hall.”
XXXI.
The Abbess, seeing strife was vain,Assumed her wonted state again—For much of state she had—Composed her veil, and raised her head,And—“Bid,” in solemn voice she said,“Thy master, bold and bad,The records of his house turn o’er,And when he shall there written see,That one of his own ancestryDrove the monks forth of Coventry,Bid him his fate explore.Prancing in pride of earthly trust,His charger hurled him to the dust,And, by a base plebeian thrust,He died his band before.God judge ’twixt Marmion and me;He is a chief of high degree,And I a poor recluse;Yet oft, in Holy Writ, we seeEven such weak minister as meMay the oppressor bruise:For thus, inspired, did Judith slayThe mighty in his sin,And Jael thus, and Deborah”—Here hasty Blount broke in:—“Fitz-Eustace, we must march our band;Saint Anton’ fire thee! wilt thou standAll day, with bonnet in thy hand,To hear the lady preach?By this good light! if thus we stay,Lord Marmion, for our fond delay,Will sharper sermon teach.Come, don thy cap, and mount thy horse;The dame must patience take perforce.”
XXXII.
“Submit we, then, to force,” said Clare,“But let this barbarous lord despairHis purposed aim to win;Let him take living, land, and life;But to be Marmion’s wedded wifeIn me were deadly sin:And if it be the king’s decreeThat I must find no sanctuaryIn that inviolable domeWhere even a homicide might comeAnd safely rest his head,Though at its open portals stood,Thirsting to pour forth blood for blood,The kinsmen of the dead;Yet one asylum is my ownAgainst the dreaded hour—A low, a silent, and a lone,Where kings have little power.One victim is before me there.Mother, your blessing, and in prayerRemember your unhappy Clare!”Loud weeps the Abbess, and bestowsKind blessings many a one:Weeping and wailing loud aroseRound patient Clare, the clamorous woesOf every simple nun.His eyes the gentle Eustace dried,And scarce rude Blount the sight could bide.Then took the squire her rein,And gently led away her steed,And, by each courteous word and deed,To cheer her strove in vain.
XXXIII.
But scant three miles the band had rode,When o’er a height they passed,And, sudden, close before them showedHis towers, Tantallon vast;Broad, massive, high, and stretching far,And held impregnable in war,On a projecting rock they rose,And round three sides the ocean flows,The fourth did battled walls enclose,And double mound and fosse.By narrow drawbridge, outworks strong,Through studded gates, an entrance long,To the main court they cross;It was a wide and stately square;Around were lodgings, fit and fair,And towers of various form,Which on the court projected far,And broke its lines quadrangular.Here was square keep, there turret high,Or pinnacle that sought the sky,Whence oft the warder could descryThe gathering ocean-storm.
XXXIV.
Here did they rest. The princely careOf Douglas, why should I declare,Or say they met reception fair?Or why the tidings say,Which, varying, to Tantallon came,By hurrying posts or fleeter fame,With every varying day?And, first, they heard King James had wonEtall, and Wark, and Ford; and thenThat Norham Castle strong was ta’en.At that sore marvelled Marmion;And Douglas hoped his monarch’s handWould soon subdue Northumberland:But whispered news there came,That, while his host inactive lay,And melted by degrees away,King James was dallying off the dayWith Heron’s wily dame.Such acts to chronicles I yield:Go seek them there and see;Mine is a tale of Flodden Field,And not a history.At length they heard the Scottish hostOn that high ridge had made their postWhich frowns o’er Milfield Plain,And that brave Surrey many a bandHad gathered in the Southern land,And marched into Northumberland,And camp at Wooler ta’en.Marmion, like charger in the stall,That hears, without, the trumpet call,Began to chafe and swear:“A sorry thing to hide my headIn castle, like a fearful maid,When such a field is near!Needs must I see this battle-day;Death to my fame if such a frayWere fought, and Marmion away!The Douglas, too, I wot not why,Hath ’bated of his courtesy:No longer in his halls I’ll stay.”Then bade his band they should arrayFor march against the dawning day.
To Richard Heber,Esq.
Mertoun House,Christmas.
Heapon more wood! the wind is chill;But let it whistle as it will,We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.Each age has deemed the new-born yearThe fittest time for festal cheer;E’en, heathen yet, the savage DaneAt Iol more deep the mead did drain;High on the beach his galleys drew,And feasted all his pirate crew;Then in his low and pine-built hall,Where shields and axes decked the wall,They gorged upon the half-dressed steer;Caroused in seas of sable beer;While round, in brutal jest, were thrownThe half-gnawed rib and marrow-bone;Or listened all, in grim delight,While scalds yelled out the joys of fight.Then forth, in frenzy, would they hie,While wildly-loose their red locks fly,And dancing round the blazing pile,They make such barbarous mirth the while,As best might to the mind recallThe boist’rous joys of Odin’s hall.And well our Christian sires of oldLoved, when the year its course had rolled,And brought blithe Christmas back again,With all his hospitable train.Domestic and religious riteGave honour to the holy night;On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;On Christmas Eve the mass was sung;That only night in all the yearSaw the stoled priest the chalice rear.The damsel donned her kirtle sheen;The hall was dressed with holly green;Forth to the wood did merry men go,To gather in the mistletoe.Then opened wide the baron’s hallTo vassal, tenant, serf, and all;Power laid his rod of rule aside,And Ceremony doffed his pride.The heir, with roses in his shoes,That night might village partner choose;The lord, underogating, shareThe vulgar game of “post and pair.”All hailed, with uncontrolled delight,And general voice, the happy night,That to the cottage, as the crown,Brought tidings of salvation down.The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,Went roaring up the chimney wide;The huge hall table’s oaken face,Scrubbed till it shone, the day to grace,Bore then upon its massive boardNo mark to part the squire and lord.Then was brought in the lusty brawn,By old blue-coated serving-man;Then the grim boar’s head frowned on high,Crested with bays and rosemary.Well can the green-garbed ranger tell,How, when, and where, the monster fell:What dogs before his death he tore,And all the baiting of the boar.The wassail round, in good brown bowls,Garnished with ribbons, blithely trowls.There the huge sirloin reeked; hard byPlum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie;Nor failed old Scotland to produce,At such high tide, her savoury goose.Then came the merry maskers in,And carols roared with blithesome din;If unmelodious was the song,It was a hearty note, and strong.Who lists may in their mumming seeTraces of ancient mystery;White shirts supplied the masquerade,And smutted cheeks the visors made;But oh! what maskers richly dightCan boast of bosoms half so light!England was merry England, whenOld Christmas brought his sports again.’Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale;’Twas Christmas told the merriest tale:A Christmas gambol oft could cheerThe poor man’s heart through half the year.Still linger, in our Northern clime,Some remnants of the good old time;And still, within our valleys here,We hold the kindred title dear,Even when, perchance, its far-fetched claimTo Southern ear sounds empty name;For course of blood, our proverbs deem,Is warmer than the mountain-stream.And thus my Christmas still I holdWhere my great grandsire came of old,With amber beard, and flaxen hair,And reverend apostolic air—The feast and holy-tide to share,And mix sobriety with wine,And honest mirth with thoughts divine:Small thought was his in after timeE’er to be hitched into a rhyme.The simple sire could only boast,That he was loyal to his cost;The banished race of kings revered,And lost his land—but kept his beard.In these dear halls, where welcome kindIs with fair liberty combined;Where cordial friendship gives the hand,And flies constraint the magic wandOf the fair dame that rules the land.Little we heed the tempest drear,While music, mirth, and social cheer,Speed on their wings the passing year.And Mertoun’s halls are fair e’en now,When not a leaf is on the bough.Tweed loves them well, and turns again,As loth to leave the sweet domain,And holds his mirror to her face,And clips her with a close embrace:Gladly as he, we seek the dome,And as reluctant turn us home.How just that, at this time of glee,My thoughts should, Heber, turn to thee!For many a merry hour we’ve known,And heard the chimes of midnight’s tone.Cease, then, my friend! a moment cease,And leave these classic tomes in peace!Of Roman and of Grecian loreSure mortal brain can hold no more.These ancients, as Noll Bluff might say,“Were pretty fellows in their day;”But time and tide o’er all prevail—On Christmas eve a Christmas tale,Of wonder and of war—“Profane!What! leave the loftier Latian strain,Her stately prose, her verse’s charms,To hear the clash of rusty arms:In Fairy Land or Limbo lost,To jostle conjuror and ghost,Goblin and witch!” Nay, Heber dear,Before you touch my charter, hear;Though Leyden aids, alas! no more,My cause with many-languaged lore,This may I say:—in realms of deathUlysses meets Alcides’wraith;Æneas, upon Thracia’s shore,The ghost of murdered Polydore;For omens, we in Livy cross,At every turn,locutus Bos.As grave and duly speaks that ox,As if he told the price of stocksOr held in Rome republican,The place of common-councilman.All nations have their omens drear,Their legends wild of woe and fear.To Cambria look—the peasant seeBethink him of Glendowerdy,And shun “the spirit’s blasted tree.”The Highlander, whose red claymoreThe battle turned on Maida’s shore,Will, on a Friday morn, look pale,If asked to tell a fairy tale:He fears the vengeful elfin king,Who leaves that day his grassy ring:Invisible to human ken,He walks among the sons of men.Did’st e’er, dear Heber, pass alongBeneath the towers of Franchèmont,Which, like an eagle’s nest in air,Hang o’er the stream and hamlet fair;Deep in their vaults, the peasants say,A mighty treasure buried lay,Amassed through rapine and through wrong,By the last Lord of Franchèmont.The iron chest is bolted hard,A huntsman sits, its constant guard;Around his neck his horn is hung,His hanger in his belt is slung;Before his feet his blood-hounds lie:And ’twere not for his gloomy eye,Whose withering glance no heart can brook,As true a huntsman doth he look,As bugle e’er in brake did sound,Or ever hallooed to a hound.To chase the fiend, and win the prize,In that same dungeon ever triesAn aged necromantic priest:It is an hundred years at least,Since ’twixt them first the strife begun,And neither yet has lost nor won.And oft the conjuror’s words will makeThe stubborn demon groan and quake;And oft the bands of iron break,Or bursts one lock, that still amain,Fast as ’tis opened, shuts again.That magic strife within the tombMay last until the day of doom,Unless the adept shall learn to tellThe very word that clenched the spell,When Franchèmont locked the treasure cell.A hundred years are past and gone,And scarce three letters has he won.Such general superstition mayExcuse for old Pitscottie say;Whose gossip history has givenMy song the messenger from heaven,That warned, in Lithgow, Scotland’s king,Nor less the infernal summoning;May pass the monk of Durham’s tale,Whose demon fought in Gothic mail;May pardon plead for Fordun grave,Who told of Gifford’s goblin-cave.But why such instances to you,Who in an instant can renewYour treasured hoards of various lore,And furnish twenty thousand more?Hoards, not like theirs whose volumes restLike treasures in the Franchèmont chest,While gripple owners still refuseTo others what they cannot use;Give them the priest’s whole century,They shall not spell you letters three;Their pleasure in the books the sameThe magpie takes in pilfered gem.Thy volumes, open as thy heart,Delight, amusement, science, art,To every ear and eye impart;Yet who, of all who thus employ them,Can like the owner’s self enjoy them?But, hark! I hear the distant drum!The day of Flodden Field is come.Adieu, dear Heber! life and health,And store of literary wealth!