MAR MION.

CANTO FOURTH.

ТНЕ САМР.

1

MARMION

CANTO FOURTH.

THE CAMP.

I.

EUSTACE, I said, did blithely mark
The first notes of the merry lark.
The lark sang shrill, the cock he crew,
And loudly Marmion's bugles blew,
And with their light and lively call,
Brought groom and yeoman to the stall.
Whistling they came, and free of heart,
But soon their mood was changed;
Complaint was heard on every part,
Of something disarranged.

Some clamour'd loud for armour lost;
Some brawl'd and wrangled with the host;
"By Becket's bones," cried one, “I fear,1
That some false Scot has stolen my spear

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" !

1 [MS.-"By Becket's bones,' cried one, 'I swear.'"]

Young Blount, Lord Marmion's second squire,
Found his steed wet with sweat and mire ;
Although the rated horseboy sware,

Last night he dress'd him sleek and fair.
While chafed the impatient squire like thunder,
Old Hubert shouts, in fear and wonder,-
"Help, gentle Blount! help comrades all!
Bevis lies dying in his stall:

To Marmion who the plight dare tell,
Of the good steed he loves so well?".
Gaping for fear and ruth, they saw
The charger panting on his straw;1
Till one, who would seem wisest, cried,—
"What else but evil could betide,

With that cursed Palmer for our guide?,
Better we had through mire and bush
Been lantern-led by Friar Rush." 2

1 [MS." The good horse panting on the straw."]

2 Alias, "Will o' the Wisp." This personage is a strolling demon, or esprit follet, who, once upon a time, got admittance into a monastery as a scullion, and played the Monks many pranks. He was also a sort of Robin Goodfellow, and Jack o' Lanthern. It is in allusion to this mischievous demon that Milton's clown speaks,

"She was pinched, and pull'd, she said,

And he by Friar's lanthern led."

"The History of Friar Rush" is of extreme rarity, anu, for some time, even the existence of such a book was doubted, although it is expressly alluded to by Reginald Scot, in his "Discovery of Witchcraft." I have perused a copy in the valuable library of my friend Mr. Heber; and I observe, from Mr. Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature that there is one in the excellent collection of the Marquis of Stafford.