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V.

Ten squires, ten yeomen, mail-clad men,
Waited the beck of the warders ten;
Thirty steeds, both fleet and wight,
Stood saddled in stable day and night,
Barb'd with frontlet of steel, I trow,

And with Jedwood-axe at saddle-bow: (3)
A hundred more fed free in stall:-
Such was the custom of Branksome-hail.

VI.

Why do these steeds stand ready dight?
Why watch these warriors, arm'd, by night?—
They watch to hear the blood-hound baying;
They watch to hear the war-horn braying;
To see St George's red cross streaming;
To see the midnight beacon gleaming;
They watch against southern force and guile,
Lest Scroop, or Howard, or Percy's powers,
Threaten Branksome's lordly towers,

From Warkworth, or Naworth, or merry Carlisle.(4)

VII.

Such is the custom of Branksome-hall.——

Many a valiant knight is here;

But he, the chieftain of them all,

His sword hangs rusting on the wall,

Beside his broken spear.

Bards long shall tell

How Lord Walter fell! (5) When startled burghers fled, afar, The furies of the Border war; When the streets of high Dunedin Saw lances gleam, and falchions redden, And heard the slogan's deadly yellThen the Chief of Branksome fell.

VIII.

Can piety the discord heal,

Or staunch the death-feud's enmity?
Can christian lore, can patriot zeal,
Can love of blessed charity?
No! vainly to each holy shrine,

In mutual pilgrimage they drew; (6)
Implored, in vain, the grace divine

For chiefs their own red falchions slew: While Cessford owns the rule of Car, (7) While Ettrick boasts the line of Scott, The slaughter'd chiefs, the mortal jar, The havoc of the feudal war, Shall never, never be forgot!

IX.

In sorrow o'er Lord Walter's-bier

The warlike foresters had bent;
And many a flower, and many a tear,
Old Teviot's maids and matrons lent:

But o'er her warrior's bloody bier

The Ladye dropp'd nor flower nor tear! Vengeance, deep brooding o'er the slain,

Had lock'd the source of softer woe; And burning pride, and high disdain, Forbade the rising tear to flow;

The war-cry, or gathering word of a Border clan.

Until, amid his sorrowing clan,

Her son lisp'd from the nurse's knee

« And if I live to be a man,

My father's death revenged shall be!» Then fast the mother's tears did seek To dew the infant's kindling cheek.

X.

All loose her negligent attire,
All loose her golden hair,

Hung Margaret o'er her slaughter'd sire,
And wept in wild despair.

But not alone the bitter tear

Had filial grief supplied;

For hopeless love, and anxious fear,
Had lent their mingled tide:
Nor in her mother's alter'd eye
Dared she to look for sympathy.
Her lover, 'gainst her father's clan,
With Car in arms had stood,
When Mathouse-burn to Melrose ran,
All purple with their blood;
And well she knew her mother dread,
Before Lord Cranstoun she should wed, (8)
Would see her on her dying bed.

XI.

Of noble race the Ladye came;
Her father was a clerk of fame,

Of Bethune's line of Picardie: (9)
Hle learn'd the art that none may name,
In Padua, far beyond the sea. (10) .
Men said he changed his mortal frame
By feat of magic mystery;
For when, in studious mood, he paced
St Andrew's cloister'd hall,

His form no darkening shadow traced Upon the sunny wall! (11)

XH.

And of his skill, as bards avow,

He taught that Ladye fair,
Till to her bidding she could bow

The viewless forms of air. (12)
And now she sits in secret bower,
In old Lord David's western tower,
And listens to a heavy sound,

That moans the mossy turrets round.

Is it the roar of Teviot's tide,

That chafes against the scaur's red side?

Is it the wind, that swings the oaks?

Is it the echo from the rocks?

What may it be, the heavy sound,

That moaus old Branksome's turrets round?

XIII.

At the sullen, moaning sound,
The ban-dogs bay and howl;
And from the turrets round,

Loud whoops the startled owl.
In the hall, both squire and knight
Swore that a storm was near,
And look'd forth to view the night;
But the night was still and clear!

Scaur, a precipitous bank of earth.

XIV.

From the sound of Teviot's tide,
Chafing with the mountain's side,
From the groan of the wind-swung oak,
From the sullen echo of the rock,
From the voice of the coming storm,

The Ladye knew it well!

It was the Spirit of the Flood that spoke, And he call'd on the Spirit of the Fell.

XV.

RIVER SPIRIT.

Sleep'st thou, brother?»>

MOUNTAIN SPIRIT.

-« Brother, nay—

On my hills the moon-beams play,
From Craig-cross to Skelfhill-pen,
By every rill, in every glen,
Merry elves their morrice pacing,
To aerial minstrelsy,

Emerald rings on brown heath tracing,
Trip it deft and merrily,

Up, and mark their nimble feet!
Up, and list their music sweet!»

XVI.

RIVER SPIRIT.

«Tears of an imprison'd maiden
Mix with my polluted stream;
Margaret of Branksome, sorrow-laden,

Mourns beneath the moon's pale beam.
Tell me, thou, who view'st the stars,
When shall cease these feudal jars?
What shall be the maiden's fate?
Who shall be the maiden's mate?»>

XVII.

MOUNTAIN SPIRIT.

« Arthur's slow wain his course doth roll
In utter darkness round the pole;
The Northern Bear lowers black and grim;
Orion's studded belt is dim:
Twinkling faint, and distant far,
Shimmers through mist each planet star;
Ill may I read their high decree!

But no kind influence deign they shower On Teviot's tide, and Branksome's tower, Till pride be quell'd, and love be free.»

XVIII.

The unearthly voices ceased,

And the heavy sound was still:It died on the river's breast,

It died on the side of the hill. But round Lord David's tower

The sound still floated near; For it rung in the Ladye's bower, And it rung in the Ladye's ear. She raised her stately head,

And her heart throbb'd high with pride:Your mountains shall bend,

And your streams ascend,

Ere Margaret be our foeman's bride!»>

XIX.

The Ladye sought the lofty hall,

Where many a bold retainer lay,

And, with jocund din, among them all,
Her son pursued his infant play.
A fancied moss-trooper, (13) the boy
The truncheon of a spear bestrode,
And round the hall, right merrily,

In mimic foray' rode.
Even bearded knights, in arms grown old,
Share in his frolic gambols bore,
Albeit their hearts, of rugged mould,
Were stubborn as the steel they wore.
For the gray warriors prophesied,
How the brave boy, in future war,
Should tame the unicorn's pride,
Exalt the crescent and the star.2 (14)
XX..

The Ladye forgot her purpose high
One moment-and no more;
One moment gazed with a mother's eye,
As she paused at the arched door:
Then, from amid the armed train,
She call'd to her William of Deloraine. (15)

XXI.

A stark moss-trooping Scott was he,
As e'er couch'd Border lance by knee:
Through Solway sands, through Tarrass moss,
Blindfold he knew the paths to cross;

By wily turns, by desperate bounds,
Had baffled Percy's best blood-hounds; (16)

In Eske, or Liddel, fords were none,
But he would ride them, one by one;
Alike to him was time or tide,
December's snow, or July's pride;
Alike to him was tide or time,
Moonless midnight, or matin prime:
Steady of heart and stout of hand,
As ever drove prey from Cumberland;
Five times outlaw'd had be been,
By England's king and Scotland's queen.

XXII.

<< Sir William of Deloraine, good at need,
Mount thee on the wightest steed;
Spare not to spur, nor stint to ride,

Until you come to fair Tweedside;

And in Melrose's holy pile

Seek thou the monk of St Mary's aisle.
Greet the father well from me;

Say, that the fated hour is come,
And to-night he shall watch with thee,
To win the treasure of the tomb:

For this will be St Michael's night,

And, though stars be dim, the moon is bright;

And the cross, of bloody red,

Will point to the grave of the Mighty Dead.

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Soon in his saddle sate he fast,
And soon the steep descent he past,
Soon cross'd the sounding barbican,
And soon the Teviot side he won.
Eastward the wooded path he rode,
Green hazels o'er his basnet nod;
He pass'd the Peel of Goldiland,

And cross'd old Borthwick's roaring strand;
Dimly he view'd the Moat-hill's mound, (17)
Where Druid shades still flitted round:
In Hawick twinkled many a light;.
Behind him soon they set in night;
And soon he spurr'd his courser keen,
Beneath the tower of Hazeldean. (18)

XXVI.

The clattering hoofs the watchmen mark ;« Stand, ho! thou courier of the dark.»

<< For Branksome, ho!» the knight rejoin'd,
And left the friendly tower behind.
He turn'd him now from Teviot side

And, guided by the tinkling rill,
Northward the dark ascent did ride,
And gain'd the moor at Horsliehill;
Broad on the left before him lay,
For many a mile, the Roman way.

XXVII.

A moment now he slack'd his speed,
A moment breathed his panting steed,
Drew saddle-girth and corslet band,
And loosen'd in the sheath his brand.
On Minto-crags the moon-beams glint, (19)
Where Barnhill hew'd his bed of flint;
Who flung his outlaw'd limbs to rest
Where falcons hang their giddy nest,
Mid cliffs from wlience his eagle eye
For many a league his prey could spy;
Cliffs, doubling, on their echoes borne,
The terrors of the robber's horn;
Cliffs which, for many a later year,
The warbling Doric reed shall hear,

When some sad swain shall teach the grove, Ambition is no cure for love!

XXVIII.

Unchallenged, thence pass'd Deloraine To ancient Riddel's fair domain, (20) Where Aill, from mountains freed,

Hairibee, the place of executing the Border marauders, at Carlisle. The neck-verse is the beginning of the 51st psalm, Miserere mei, etc., anciently read by criminals claiming the benefit of clergy. 2 Barbican, the defence of the outer gate of a feudal castle.

3 Peel, a Border tower,

4 An ancient Roman road, crossing through part of Roxburghshire.

Down from the lakes did raving come, Cresting each wave with tawny foam,

Like the mane of a chesnut steed.

In vain! no torrent, deep or broad, Might bar the bold moss-trooper's road.

XXIX.

At the first plunge the horse sunk low,
And the water broke o'er the saddle-bow;
Above the foaming tide, I ween,
Scarce half the charger's neck was seen;
For he was barded from counter to tail,
And the rider was arm'd complete in mail:
Never heavier man and horse
Stemm'd a midnight torrent's force.
The warrior's very plume, I say,
Was daggled by the dashing spray;

Yet, through good heart and Our Ladye's grace,
At length he gain'd the landing-place.

ΧΧΧ.

Now Bowden Moor the march-man won,
And sternly shook his plumed head,
As glanced his eye o'er Halidon;2 (21)
For on his soul the slaughter red
Of that unhallow'd moru arose,
When first the Scott and Car were foes;
When royal James beheld the fray,
Prize to the victor of the day;
When Home and Douglas, in the van,
Bore down Buccleuch's retiring clan,
Till gallant Cessford's heart-blood dear
Reek'd on dark Elliot's Border spear.

XXXI.

In bitter mood he spurred fast,
And soon the hated heath was past;
And far beneath, in lustre wan,

Old Melros' rose, and fair Tweed ran: :(22)
Like some tall rock, with lichens gray,
Rose, dimly huge, the dark abbaye.
When Hawick he pass'd, had curfew rung,
Now midnight lauds 3 were in Melrose sung.
The sound, upon the fitful gale,

In solemn wise did rise and fail,

Like that wild harp, whose magic tone

Is waken'd by the winds alone.

But when Melrose he reach'd, 't was silence ali;

He meetly stabled his steed in stall,

And sought the convent's lonely wall.

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The duchess, and her daughters fair, And every gentle ladye there,

Each after each, in due degree,

Gave praises to his melody;

His hand was true, his voice was clear,
And much they long'd the rest to hear.
Encouraged thus, the aged man,
After meet rest, again began.

CANTO II.

If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moon-light;
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild but to flout the ruins gray.

When the broken arches are black in night,
And each shafted oriel glimmers white;
When the cold light's uncertain shower
Streams on the ruin'd central tower;
When buttress and buttress alternately
Seem framed of ebon and ivory;
When silver edges the imagery,

And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; (1)
When distant Tweed is heard to rave,

And the owlet to loot o'er the dead man's grave;

Then go-but go alone the while--
Then view St David's ruin'd pile; (2)
And, home returning, soothly swear,
Was never scene so sad and fair!

II.

Short halt did Deloraine make there;
Little reck'd he of the scene so fair!
With dagger's hilt, on the wicket strong,
He struck full loud, and struck full long.
The porter hurried to the gate-

"Who knocks so loud, and knocks so late?»>-
« From Branksome I,» the warrior cried,
And straight the wicket open'd wide:

For Branksome's chiefs had in battle stood,
To fence the rights of fair Melrose;
And lands and livings, many a rood,

Had gifted the shrine for their souls' repose. (3)

III.

Bold Deloraine his errand said;
The porter bent his humble head;
With torch in hand, and feet unshod,
And noiseless step, the path he trod:
The arched cloisters far and wide
Rang to the warrior's elanking stride;
Till, stooping low his lofty crest,

He enter'd the cell of the ancient priest,
And lifted his barred aventayle,'

To hail the Monk of St Mary's aisle.

IV..

«The Ladye of Branksome greets thee by me; Says, that the fated hour is come,

Aventagle, visor of the helmet.

And that to-night I shall watch with thee,
To win the treasure of the tomb.»-
From sackcloth couch the monk arose,
With toil his stiffen'd limbs he rear'd;
A hundred years had flung their snows
On his thin locks and floating beard.

V.

And strangely on the knight look'd he,

And his blue eyes gleam'd wild and wide; « And darest thou, warrior, seek to see What heaven and hell alike would hide? My breast, in belt of iron pent,

With shirt of hair and scourge of thorn, For threescore years, in penance spent,

My knees those flinty stones have worn; Yet all too little to atone

For knowing what should ne'er be known. Wouldst thou thy every future year

In ceaseless prayer and penance drie, Yet wait thy latter end with fearThen, daring warrior, follow me!»>

VI.

« Penance, father, will I none;
Prayer know I hardly one;

For mass or prayer can I rarely tarry,
Save to patter an Ave Mary,

When I ride on a Border foray: (4)
Other prayer can I none;

So speed me my errand, and let me be gone.»>

. VII.

Again on the knight look'd the churchman old, And again he sighed heavily;

For he had himself been a warrior bold,

And fought in Spain and Italy.

And he thought on the days that were long since by, When his limbs were strong, and his courage was high

Now slow and faint, he fed the way,
Where, cloister'd round, the garden lay;
The pillar'd arches were over their head,

And beneath their feet were the bones of the dead (5)

VIII.

Spreading herbs and flowerets bright
Glisten'd with the dew of night;

Nor herb nor floweret glisten'd there,

But was carved in the cloister'd arches as fair. The monk gazed long on the lovely moon,

Then into the night he looked forth; And red and bright the streamers light Were dancing in the glowing north. So had he seen, in fair Castile,

The youth in glittering squadrons start; Sudden the flying jennet wheel,

And hurl the unexpected dart. (6)

He knew, by the streamers that shot so bright, That spirits were riding the northern light.

IX.

By a steel-clenched postern door,

They enter'd now the chancel tall; The darken'd roof rose high aloof

On pillars, lofty, and light, and small:

The key-stone, that lock'd each ribbed aisle,
Was a fleur-de-lis, or a quatre-feuille;

The corbells were carved grotesque and grim;
And the pillars, with cluster'd shafts so trim,
With base and with capital flourish'd around,
Seem'd bundles of lances which garlands had bound.

X.

Full many a scutcheon and banner, riven, Shook to the cold night-wind of heaven,

Around the screened altar's pale; And there the dying lamps did burn Before thy low and lonely urn,

O gallant chief of Otterburne! (7)

And thine, dark knight of Liddesdale! (8)

O fading honours of the dead!

O high ambition, lowly laid!

XI.

The moon on the east oriel shone (9)
Through slender shafts of shapely stone,
By foliaged tracery combined;

Thou wouldst have thought some fairy's hand "Twixt poplars straight the ozier wand,

In many a freakish knot, had twined;
Then framed a spell, when the work was done,
And changed the willow-wreaths to stone.
The silver light, so pale and faint,

Show'd many a prophét, and many a saint,
Whose image on the glass was.dyed;
Full in the midst, his cross of red
Triumphant Michael brandished,

And trampled the Apostate's pride.
The moon-beam kiss'd the holy pane,
And threw on the pavement a bloody stain.

XII.

They sate them down on a marble stone,
A Scottish monarch slept below; (10)
Thus spoke the monk, in solemn tone-

<<I was not always a man of woe;
For Paynim countries I have trod,
And fought beneath the cross of God:
Now, strange to my eyes thine arms appear,
And their iron clang sounds strange to my ear.

XIII.

<< In these far climes, it was my lot
To meet the wond'rous Michael Scott; (11)
A wizard of such dreaded fame,
That when, in Salamanca's cave, (12)
Him listed his magic wand to wave,

The bells would ring in Notre Dame! (13)
Some of his skill he taught to me;
And, warrior, I could say to thee

The words that cleft Eildon hills in three,

And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone: :(14) But to speak them were a deadly sin;

And for having but thought them my heart within, A treble penance must be done.

XIV.

"When Michael lay on his dying bed,

His conscience was awakened;

Corbells, the projections from which the arches spring, usually cut in a fantastic face, or mask.

He bethought him of his sinful deed,
And he gave me a sign to come with speed;
I was in Spain when the morning rose,
But I stood by his bed ere evening close.
The words may not again be said
That he spoke to me, on death-bed laid;
They would rend this abbaye's massy nave,
And pile it in heaps above his grave.

XV.

« I swore to bury his mighty book, That never mortal might therein look; And never to tell where it was hid, Save at bis chief of Branksome's need; And when that need was past and o'er, Again the volume to restore.

I buried him on St Michael's night,

When the bell told one, and the moon was bright,
And I dug his chamber among the dead,
When the floor of the chancel was stained red,
That his patron's cross might over him wave,
And scare the fiends from the wizard's grave.

XVI.

« It was a night of woe and dread,
When Michael in the tomb I laid!
Strange sounds along the chancel past,

The banners waved without a blast»--
-Still spoke the monk when the bell toll'd one!-

I tell you, that a braver man

Than William of Deloraine, good at need,
Against a foe ne'er spurr'd a steed;
Yet somewhat was he chill'd with dread,
And his hair did bristle upon his head.

XVII.

«< Lo, warrior! now the cross of red
Points to the grave of the mighty dead;
Within it burus a wonderous light,
To chase the spirits that love the night:
That lamp shall burn unquenchably, (15)
Until the eternal doom shall be.»-
Slow moved the monk to the broad flag-stone,
Which the bloody cross was traced upon;

He pointed to a secret nook;

An iron bar the warrior took;

And the monk made a sign with his wither'd hand, The grave's huge portal to expand.

XVIII.

With beating heart to the task he went;
His sinewy frame o'er the grave-stone bent;
With bar of iron heaved amain,

Till the toil-drops fell from his brows, like rain.
It was by dint of passing strength

That he moved the massy stone at length.

I would you had been there to see
How the light broke forth so gloriously,
Stream'd upward to the chancel roof,
And through the galleries far aloof!
No earthly flame blazed e'er so bright:
It shone like heaven's own blessed light;
And, issuing from the tomb,
Show'd the monk's cowl, and visage pale,
Danced on the dark-brow'd warrior's mail,
And kiss'd his waving plume.

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