THE LADY OF THE LAKE. CANTO FIFTH. THE COMBAT. I. FAIR as the earliest beam of eastern light, And silvers o'er the torrent's foaming tide, And lights the fearful path on mountain side;— Fair as that beam, although the fairest far, Giving to horror grace, to danger pride, Shine martial Faith, and Courtesy's bright star, Through all the wreckful storms that cloud the brow of War. 1 [MS." And lights the fearful way along its side."] II. That early beam, so fair and sheen, The warriors left their lowly bed, Look'd out upon the dappled sky, And then awaked their fire, to steal, So tangled oft, that, bursting through, Each hawthorn shed her showers of dew,- It rivals all but Beauty's tear! 1 The Scottish Highlander calls himself Gael, or Gaul, and. terms the Lowlanders, Sassenach, or Saxons. III. At length they came where, stern and steep,1 There, ridge on ridge, Benledi rose; Beneath steep bank and threatening stone; The rugged mountain's scanty cloak But where the lake slept deep and still, And ask'd Fitz-James by what strange cause 1 [MS.-" "At length they paced the mountain's side, 2 [MS." The rugged mountain's stunted screen Was dwarfish { |