I watch him well-his wayward course
Shews oft a tincture of remorse ;
Some early love-shaft grazed his heart,
And oft the scar will ache and smart.

Yet is he useful;-of the rest

By fits the darling and the jest,

His harp, his story, and his lay,

Oft aid the idle hours away:
When unemployed, each fiery mate
Is ripe for mutinous debate.

He tuned his strings e'en now-again
He wakes them, with a blither strain.

XXX.

SONG.

ALLEN-A-DALE.

Allen-a-Dale has no faggot for burning,

Allen-a-Dale has no furrow for turning,
Allen-a-Dale has no fleece for the spinning,

Yet Allen-a-Dale has red gold for the winning.

Come, read me my riddle! come, hearken my tale!

And tell me the craft of bold Allen-a-Dale.

The Baron of Ravensworth prances in pride,
And he views his domains upon Arkindale side,
The mere for his net, and the land for his game,
The chace for the wild, and the park for the tame;
Yet the fish of the lake, and the deer of the vale,
Are less free to Lord Dacre than Allen-a-Dale!

Allen-a-Dale was ne'er belted a knight,

Though his spur be as sharp, and his blade be as bright; Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord,

Yet twenty tall yeomen will draw at his word;

And the best of our nobles his bonnet will vail,

Who at Rere-cross on Stanmore meets Allen-a-Dale.

Allen-a-Dale to his wooing is come;

The mother, she asked of his household and home :

Though the castle of Richmond stand fair on the hill, My hall," quoth bold Allen," shews gallanter still;

Tis the blue vault of heaven, with its crescent so pale, And with all its bright spangles!" said Allen-a-Dale.

!

The father was steel, and the mother was stone;
They lifted the latch, and they bade him be gone;
But loud on the morrow, their wail and their cry
He had laugh'd on the lass with his bonny black eye,
And she fled to the forest to hear a love-tale,

And the youth it was told by was Allen-a-Dale!

XXXI.

"Thou see'st that, whether sad or gay,

Love mingles ever in his lay.

But when his boyish wayward fit

Is o'er, he hath address and wit;

O! 'tis a brain of fire, can ape

Each dialect, each various shape."

Nay, then, to aid thy project, Guy

Soft! who comes here ?"-" My trusty spy.

Speak, Hamlin ! hast thou lodged our deer ?""I have-but two fair stags are near ;

I watch'd her as she slowly stray'd From Eglistone up Thorsgill glade; But Wilfrid Wycliffe sought her side, And then young Redmond in his pride Shot down to meet them on their way; Much, as it seem'd, was theirs to say: There's time to pitch both toil and net, Before their path be homeward set.”— A hurried and a whisper'd speech Did Bertram's will to Denzil teach, Who, turning to the robber band, Bade four the bravest take the brand.

END OF CANTO THIRD.

ROKEBY.

CANTO FOURTH.