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FOURTH MAIDEN.

<<< Leave these gems of poorer shine, Leave them all, and look on mine! While their glories I expand, Shade thine eye-brows with thy hand. Mid-day sun and diamond's blaze Blind the rash beholder's gaze.»—

CHORUS.

<< Warrior, seize the splendid store:
Would 't were all our mountains bore!
We should ne'er in future story,
Read, Peru, thy perish'd glory!

XXVII.

Calmly and unconcern'd the knight
Waved aside the treasures bright:
« Gentle maidens, rise, I pray!
Bar not thus
destined way.
my
Let these boasted brilliant toys
Braid the hair of girls and boys!
Bid your streams of gold expand
O'er proud London's thirsty land.
De Vaux of wealth saw never need,
Save to purvey him arms and steed,
And all the ore he deign'd to hoard
Inlays his helm, and hilts his sword.»-
Thus gently parting from their hold,
He left, unmoved, the dome of gold.

XXVIII.

And now the morning sun was high,
De Vaux was weary, faint, and dry;
When lo! a plashing sound he hears,
A gladsome signal that he nears

Some frolic water-run;

And soon he reach'd a court-yard square, Where dancing in the sultry air,

Toss'd high aloft, a fountain fair

Was sparkling in the sun.

On right and left a fair arcade

In long perspective view display'd

Alleys and bowers, for sun or shade;
But full in front, a door,
Low-brow'd and dark, seem'd as it led
To the lone dwelling of the dead,
Whose memory was no more.

XXIX.

Here stopp'd de Vaux an instant's space,
To bathe his parched lips and face,
And mark'd with well-pleased eye,
Refracted on the fountain stream,
In rainbow hues, the dazzling beam
Of that gay summer sky.
His senses felt a mild control,
Like that which lulls the weary soul,
From contemplation high
Relaxing, when the ear receives

The music that the green-wood leaves
Make to the breeze's sigh.

XXX.

And oft in such a dreamy mood,
The half-shut eye can frame

Fair apparitions in the wood,
As if the nymphs of field and flood

In gay procession came. Are these of such fantastic mould, Seen distant down the fair arcade, These maids enlink'd in sister-fold, Who, late at bashful distance staid, Now tripping from the green-wood shade, Nearer the musing champion draw, And, in a pause of seeming awe,

Again stand doubtful now?—

Ah, that sly pause of witching powers!
That seems to say, « to please be ours,

Be yours to tell us how.»

Their hue was of the golden glow

That suns of Candahar bestow,

O'er which in slight suffusion flows

A frequent tinge of paly rose;

Their limbs were fashion'd fair and free,

In nature's justest symmetry,

And wreath'd with flowers, with odours graced,
Their raven ringlets reach'd the waist;
In Eastern pomp, its gilding pale
The hennah lent each shapely nail,
And the dark sumah gave the eye
More liquid and more lustrous dye.
The spotless veil of misty lawn,
In studied disarrangement, drawn
The form and bosom o'er,
To win the eye, or tempt the touch,
For modesty show'd all too much-
Too much-yet promised more.

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Stay, then, gentle warrior, stay,
Rest till evening steal on day;
Stay, O stay!-in yonder bowers
We will braid thy locks with flowers,
Spread the feast and fill the wine,
Charm thy ear with sounds divine,
Weave our dances, till delight
Yield to languor, day to night.

<< Then shall she you most approve,
Sing the lays that best you love,
Soft thy mossy couch shall spread,
Watch thy pillow, prop thy head,
Till the weary night be o'er-
Gentle warrior, wouldst thou more?
Wouldst thou more, fair warrior,-she
Is slave to Love and slave to thee.»-

XXXII.

O do not hold it for a crime

In the bold hero of my rhyme,

For stoic look,

And meet rebuke,

He lack'd the heart or time;
As round the band of sirens trip,
He kiss'd one damsel's laughing lip,
And press'd another's proffer'd hand,
Spoke to them all in accents bland,
But broke their magic circle through;
«Kind maids,» he said, « adieu, adieu!
My fate, my fortune, forward lies. »—
He said, and vanish'd from their eyes;
But, as he dared that darksome way,
Still heard behind their lovely lay :
<< Fair Flower of Courtesy, depart!
Go, where the feelings of the heart
With the warm pulse in concord move:
Go, where Virtue sanctions Love!->>

XXXIII.

Downward De Vaux through darksome ways And ruin'd vaults has gone,

Till issue from their wilder'd maze,

Or safe retreat, seem'd none; And e'en the dismal path he strays Grew worse as he went on. For cheerful sun, for living air, Foul vapours rise and mine-fires glare, Whose fearful light the dangers show'd That dogg'd him on that dreadful road. Deep pits, and lakes of waters dun, They show'd, but show'd not how to shun. These scenes of desolate despair, These smothering clouds of poison'd air, How gladly had De Vaux exchanged! Though 't were to face yon tigers ranged!

Nay, soothful bards have said,

So perilous his state seem'd now,
He wish'd him under arbour bough

With Asia's willing maid.
When, joyful sound! at distance near
A trumpet flourish'd loud and clear,
And, as it ceased, a lofty lay

Seem'd thus to chide his lagging way.

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Nor climb'd he far its steepy round

Till fresher blew the air

And next a welcome glimpse was given,
That cheer'd him with the light of heaven.
At length his toil had won

A lofty hall with trophies dress'd,
Where, as to greet imperial guest,
Four maidens stood, whose crimson vest
Was bound with golden zone.

XXXVI.

Of Europe seem'd the damsels all;
The first a nymph of lively Gaul,
Whose easy step and laughing eye
Her borrow'd air of awe belie;
The next a maid of Spain,
Dark-eyed, dark-hair'd, sedate, yet bold;
White ivory skin and tress of gold,
Her shy and bashful comrade told
For daughter of Almaine.
These maidens bore a royal robe,

With crown, with sceptre, and with globe,
Emblems of empery;

The fourth a space behind them stood,
And leant upon a harp, in mood
Of minstrel ecstacy.

Of merry Eugland she, in dress
Like ancient British druidess;
Her hair an azure fillet bound,
Her graceful vesture swept the ground,
And, in her hand display'd,

A crown did that fourth maiden hold,
But unadorn'd with gems and gold,
Of glossy laurel made.

XXXVII.

At once to brave De Vaux knelt down
These foremost maidens three,
And proffer'd sceptre, robe, and crown,
Liegedom and seignorie

O'er many a region wide and fair,
Destined, they said, for Arthur's heir;

But homage would he none:

<< Rather, he said, « De Vaux would ride, A warder of the Border-side,

In plate and mail, than, robed in pride,
A monarch's empire own;
Rather, far rather, would he be
A free-born knight of England free,
Than sit on despot's throne.»>

So pass'd he on, when that fourth maid,
As starting from a trance,
Upon the harp her finger laid;
Her magic touch the chords obey'd,
Their soul awaked at once!

SONG OF THE FOURTH MAIDEN.

<< Quake to your foundations deep,
Stately tower, and banner'd keep,
Bid
vaulted echoes moan,
your
As the dreaded step they own.

<«<< Fiends that wait on Merlin's spell,
Hear the foot-fall! mark it well!
Spread your dusky wings abroad,
Boune ye for your homeward road.

<< It is HIS, the first who e'er
Dared the dismal Hall of Fear;
His, who hath the snares defied
Spread by Pleasure, Wealth, and Pride.

<<< Quake to your foundations deep, Bastion huge and turret steep! Tremble keep, and totter tower! This is Gyneth's waking hour.»——

XXXVIII.

Thus while she sung, the venturous knight Has reach'd a bower, where milder light

Through crimson curtains fell;
Such soften'd shade the hill receives,
Her purple veil when twilight leaves
Upon its western swell.

That bower, the gazer to bewitch,
Had wond'rous store of rare and rich
As e'er was seen with eye;
For there by magic skill, I wis,
Form of each thing that living is
Was limn'd in proper dye.
All seem'd to sleep-the timid hare
On form, the stag upon his lair,
The eagle in her eyrie fair

Between the earth and sky.
But what of pictured rich and rare
Could win De Vaux's eye-glance, where,
Deep slumbering in the fatal chair,

He saw King Arthur's child!
Doubt, and anger, and dismay,
From her brow had pass'd away,
Forgot was that fell tourney-day,
For, as she slept, she smiled.
It seem'd that the repentant seer
Her sleep of many a hundred
year
With gentle dreams beguiled.

XXXIX.

That form of maiden loveliness,
'Twixt childhood and 'twixt youth,
That ivory chair, that sylvan dress,
The arms and ancles bare, express
Of Lyulph's tale the truth.
Still upon her garment's hem
Vanoc's blood made purple gem,
And the warder of command
Cumber'd still her sleeping hand;
Still her dark locks dishevell'd flow
From net of pearl o'er breast of snow;
And so fair the slumberer seems,
That De Vaux impeach'd his dreams,
Vapid all and void of might,
Hiding half her charms from sight.
Motionless awhile he stands,

Folds his arms and clasps his hands,

Trembling in his fitful joy,
Doubtful how he shall destroy
Long-enduring spell;
Doubtful too, when slowly rise
Dark-fringed lids of Gyneth's eyes,
What these eyes shall tell.

« St George! St Mary! can it be,
That they will kindly look on me!»>-

XL.

Gently, lo! the warrior kneels,
Soft that lovely hand he steals,
Soft to kiss, and soft to clasp-
But the warder leaves her grasp;
Lightning flashes, rolls the thunder!
Gyneth startles from her sleep,
Totters tower, and trembles keep,
Burst the castle walls asunder!
Fierce and frequent were the shocks,
Melt the magic halls away——
--But beneath their mystic rocks,
In the arms of bold De Vaux,

Safe the princess lay!

Safe and free from magic power,
Blushing like the rose's flower

Opening to the day;

And round the champion's brows was bound The crown that druidess had wound,

Of the green laurel-bay.

And this was what remain'd of all
The wealth of each enchanted hall,

The garland and the dame :-
But where should warrior seek the meed,
Due to high worth for daring deed,
Except from LOVE and FAME!

CONCLUSION.

I.

MY LUCY, when the maid is won,

The minstrel's task, thou know'st, is done;

And to require of bard

That to the dregs his tale should run,

Were ordinance too hard.

Our lovers, briefly be it said,

Wedded as lovers wont to wed,

When tale or play is o'er;

Lived long and blest, loved fond and true,
And saw a numerous race renew

The honours that they bore.
Know, too, that when a pilgrim strays,
In morning mist, or evening maze,
Along the mountain lone,
That fairy fortress often mocks
Ilis gaze upon the castled rocks
Of the Valley of Saint John;
But never man since brave De Vaux
The charmed portal won.

'T is now a vain illusive show,

That melts whene'er the sun-beams glow,

Or the fresh breeze hath blown.

II.

But see, my love, where far below

Our lingering wheels are moving slow,
The whiles up-gazing still,

Our menials eye our steepy way,

Marvelling, perchance, what whim can stay Our steps when eve is sinking gray

On this gigantic hill.

So think the vulgar-life and time Ring all their joys in one dull chime Of luxury and case;

And O! besides these simple knaves,
How many better born are slaves

To such coarse joys as these,
Dead to the nobler sense that glows
When nature's grander scenes unclose!
But, Lucy, we will love them yet,
The mountain's misty coronet,

The green-wood and the wold;
And love the more, that of their maze
Adventure high of other days

By ancient bards is told,
Bringing, perchance, like my poor tale,
Some moral truth in fiction's veil!
Nor love them less, that o'er the hill
The evening breeze, as now, comes chill;-
My love shall wrap her warm,
And, fearless of the slippery way,
While safe she trips the heathy brae,
Shall hang on Arthur's arm.

NOTES.

CANTO I.

Note 1. Introduction. Stanza viii.

Like COLLINS, ill-starr'd name!

COLLINS, according to Johnson, « by indulging some pe culiar habits of thought, was eminently delighted with those flights of imagination which pass the bounds of nature, and to which the mind is reconciled only by a passive acquiescence in popular traditions. He loved fairies, genii, giants, and monsters; he delighted to rove through the meanders of enchantment, to gaze on the magnificence of golden palaces, to repose by the waterfalls of Elysian gardens.»

Note 2. Stanza i.

the Baron of Triermain.

Triermain was a fief of the Barony of Gilsland, in Cumberland; it was possessed by a Saxon family at the time of the Conquest, but, «< after the death of Gilmore, Lord of Tryermaine and Torcrossock, Hubert Vaux gave Tryermaine and Torcrossock to his second son, Ranulph Vaux, which Ranulph afterwards became heir to his elder brother Robert, the founder of Lanercost, who died without issue. Ranulph, being Lord of all Gilsland, gave Gilmore's lands to his own younger son, named Roland, and let the barony descend to his eldest son Robert, son of Ranulph. Ronald had issue Alexander, and he Ranulph, after whom succeeded Robert, and they were named Rolands successively, that were lords thereof, until the reign of Edward the Fourth. That arms, Vert, a bend dexter, chequey, or and gules.»-BURN's Antiquities of Westmoreland and Cumberland, vol. II, p. 482.

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those ancient and noble families. The male line failing in John de Vaux, about the year 1665, his daughter and heiress, Mabel, married Christopher Richmond, Esq. of Highhead Castle, in the county of Cumberland, descended from an ancient family of that name, lords of Corby Castle, in the same county, soon after the Conquest, and which they alienated about the 15th of Edward the Second, to Andrea de Harcla, Earl of Carlisle. Of this family was Sir Thomas de Raigemont (miles auratus), in the reign of King Edward the First, who appears to have greatly distinguished himself at the siege of Kaerlaveroc, with William Baron of Leybourne. In an ancient heraldic poem now extant, and preserved in the British Museum, describing that siege, his arms are stated to be, Or, 2 Bars Gemelles Gules, and a Chief Or, the same borne by his descendants at the present day. The Richmonds removed to their castle of Highhead in the reign of Henry the Eighth, when the then representative of the family married Margaret, daughter of Sir Hugh Lowther, by the Lady Dorothy de Clifford, only child by a second marriage of Henry Lord Clifford, great-grandson of John Lord Clifford, by Elizabeth Percy, daughter of Henry (surnamed Hotspur) by Elizabeth Mortimer; which said Elizabeth was daughter of Edward Mortimer, third Earl of Marche, by Philippa, sole daughter and heiress of Lionel, Duke of Cla

rence.

The third in descent from the above-mentioned John Richmond became the representative of the families of Vaux, of Triermain, Caterlen, and Torcrossock, by his marriage with Mabel de Vaux, the heiress of them. His grandson Henry Richmond died without issue, leaving five sisters co-heiresses, four of whom married; but Margaret, who married William Gale, Esq. of Whitehaven, was the only one who had male issue surviving. She had a son, and a daughter married to Henry Curwen of Workington, Esq., who represented the county of Cumberland for many years in Parliament, and by her had a daughter married to John Christian, Esq. (now Curwen). John, son and heir of William Gale, married Sarah, daughter and heiress of Christopher Wilson of Bradsea-hall, in the county of Lancaster, by Margaret, aunt and co-heiress of Thomas Braddyl, Esq. of Barddyl, and Cornishead Priory, in the same county, and had issue four sons and two daughters :-- 1st, William Wilson, died an infant; 2d, Wilson, who upon the death of his cousin, Thomas Braddyl, without issue, succeeded to his estates and took the name of Braddyl, in pursuance of his will, by the king's sign manual; 3d, William, died young; and, 4th, Henry Richmond, a lieutenant-general of the army, married Sarah, daughter of the Rev. R. Baldwin; Margaret married Richard Greaves Townley, Esq. of Fulbourne, in the county of Cambridge, and of Bellfield, in the county of Lancaster; Sarah, married to George Bigland, of Bigland-hall, in the same county.

Wilson Braddyl, eldest son of John Gale, and grandson of Margaret Richmond, married Jane, daughter and heiress of Matthias Gale, Esq. of Catgill-hall, in the This branch of Vaux, with its collateral alliances, is county of Cumberland, by Jane, daughter and heiress now represented by the family of Braddyl of Cornishead of the Rev. S. Bennet, D.D.; and, as the eldest surviving Priory, in the county palatine of Lancaster; for it ap-male branch of the families above-mentioned, he quarpears that, about the time above mentioned, the house ters, in addition to his own, their paternal coats in the of Triermain was united to its kindred family Vaux following order, as appears by the records in the College of Caterlen, and, by marriage with the heiress of Dela- of Arms. more and Leybourne, became the representative of

1st. Argent, a fess azure, between three saltiers of

the same, charged with an anchor between 2 lions' heads erazed, or,-Gale.

CANTO II.

2d. Or, 2 bars gemelles gules, and a chief or,-Richmond.

3d. Or, a fess chequey, or and gules between 9 gerbes gules,-Vaux of Caterlen.

4th. Gules, a fess chequey, or and gules between 6 gerbes or,-Vaux of Torcrossock.

5th. 'Argent, a bend chequey, or and gules, for Vaux of Triermain.

6th. Gules, a cross-patonce, or,-Delamore. 7th. Gules, 6 lions rampant argent, 3, 2, and 1,Leybourne.2

Note 3. Stanza vi,

And his who sleeps at Dunmailraise. Dunmailraise is one of the grand passes from Cumberland into Westmoreland. It takes its name from a cairn, or pile of stones, erected, it is said, to the memory of Dunmail, the last king of Cumberland.

Note 4. Stanza vii.

-Penrith's Table Round.

A circular entrenchment, about half a mile from Penrith, is thus popularly termed. The circle within the ditch is about one hundred and sixty paces in circumference, with openings, or approaches, directly opposite to each other. As the ditch is on the inner side, it could not be intended for the purpose of defence, and it has reasonably been conjectured, that the inclosure was designed for the solemn exercise of feats of chivalry; and the embankment around for the convenience of the spectators.

Note 5. Stanza vii.
-Myburgh's mound and stones of power.

Higher up the river Eamont than Arthur's Round Table, is a prodigious inclosure of great antiquity, formed by a collection of stones upon the top of a gently-sloping hill, called Mayburgh. In the plain which it incloses there stands erect an unhewn stone of twelve feet in height. Two similar masses are said to have been destroyed during the memory of man. The whole appears to be a monument of druidical times.

Note 6. Stanza x.

Though never sun-beam could discern
The surface of that sable tarn.

The small lake called Scales-tarn lies so deeply embosomed in the recesses of the huge mountain called Saddleback, more poetically Glaramara, is of such great depth, and so completely hidden from the sun, that it is said its beams never reach it, and that the reflection of the stars may be seen at mid-day.

Note 7. Stanza xvii.

-Tintadgel's spear.

Tintadgel Castle, in Cornwall, is reported to have been the birth-place of King Arthur.

Note 8. Stanza xvii.

Caliburn in cumbrous length. This was the name of King Arthur's well-known sword, sometimes also called Excalibar.

1 Not vert, as stated by Burn.

2 This more detailed genealogy of the family of Triermain was obligingly sent to the author by Major Braddyll of Cornishead Priory.

Note 1. Stanza x.

From Arthur's hand the goblet flew.

The author has an indistinct recollection of an adventure somewhat similar to that which is here ascribed to King Arthur, having befallen one of the ancient Kings of Denmark. The horn in which the burning liquor was presented to that monarch, is said still to be preserved in the Royal Museum at Copenhagen.

Note 2. Stanza x.

Nor tower nor donjon could he spy,
Darkening against the morning sky.

➖➖➖« We now gained a view of the Vale of Saint John, a very narrow dell, hemmed in by mountains, through which a small brook makes many meanderings, washing little inclosures of grass-ground, which stretch up the rising of the hills. In the widest part of the dale you are struck with the appearance of an ancient ruined castle, which seems to stand upon the summit of a little mount, the mountains around forming an amphitheatre. This massive bulwark shows a front of various towers, and makes an awful, rude, and Gothic appearance, with its loffy turrets and ragged battlements; we traced the galleries, the bending arches, the buttresses. The greatest antiquity stands characterized in its architecture; the inhabitants near

it assert it is an antediluvian structure.

<< The traveller's curiosity is roused, and he prepares to make a nearer approach, when that curiosity is put upon the rack by his being assured, that if he advances, certain genii who govern the place, by virtue of their supernatural art and necromancy, will strip it of all its beauties, and, by enchantment, transform the magic walls. The vale seems adapted for the habitation of such beings; its gloomy recesses and retirements look like haunts of evil spirits. There was no delusion in the report; we were soon convinced of its truth; for this piece of antiquity, so venerable and noble in its aspect, as we drew near changed its figure, and proved no other than a shaken massive pile of rocks, which stand in the midst of this little vale, disunited from the adjoining mountains, and have so much the real form and resemblance of a castle, that they bear the name of the Castle Rocks of St John.»-HUTCHINSON'S Excursion to the Lakes, p. 121.

Note 3. Stanza xi.

The Saxons to subjection brought.

Arthur is said to have defeated the Saxons in twelve pitched battles, and to have achieved the other feats. alluded to in the text.

Note 4. Stanza xiii.

There Morolt of the iron mace, etc.

The characters named in the following stanza are all of them, more or less, distinguished in the romances which treat of King Arthur and his Round Table, and their names are strung together according to the cstablished custom of minstrels upon such occasions; for example, in the ballad of the marriage of Sir Gawaine :

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