"Couch then thy lance, and spur thy steed XXIII. "Soon as the midnight bell did ring, "Alone, and arm'd, forth rode the King "To that old camp's deserted round : "Sir Knight, you well might mark the mound, "Left hand the town, the Pictish race "The trench, long since, in blood did trace; "The moor around is brown and bare, "The space within is green and fair. "The spot our village children know, "That treads its circle in the night! "The breadth across, a bowshot clear, "Gives ample space for full career; 66 66 Opposed to the four points of heaven, By four deep gaps are entrance given. "The southernmost our Monarch past, 66 Halted, and blew a gallant blast; "And on the north, within the ring, 66 Appear'd the form of England's King, "Who then, a thousand leagues afar, "In Palestine waged holy war: "Yet arms like England's did he wield, "Alike the leopards in the shield, "Alike his Syrian courser's frame, "The rider's length of limb the same: "Long afterwards did Scotland know, "Fell Edward* was her deadliest foe. XXIV. "The vision made our Monarch start, "But soon he mann'd his noble heart, * Edward I., surnamed Longshanks. "And in the first career they ran, "The Elfin Knight fell, horse and man; "Yet did a splinter of his lance Through Alexander's visor glance, "And razed the skin-a puny wound. "Of Largs he saw the glorious plain, "Memorial of the Danish war; "Himself he saw, amid the field, "And strike proud Haco from his car, "While all around the shadowy Kings "Denmark's grim ravens cower'd their wings. ""Tis said, that in that awful night, "Remoter visions met his sight, Fore-shewing future conquests far, "When our sons' sons wage northern war; "A royal city, tower and spire, "Redden'd the midnight sky with fire, "And shouting crews her navy bore, 66 Triumphant, to the victor shore. "Such signs may learned clerks explain, "They pass the wit of simple swain. XXV. "The joyful King turn'd home again, "Headed his host, and quell'd the Dane; "But yearly, when return'd the night "Of his strange combat with the sprite, "His wound must bleed and smart; "Lord Gifford then would gibing say, "Bold as ye were, my liege, ye pay "The penance of your start.' "Long since, beneath Dunfermline's nave, "King Alexander fills his grave, "Our Lady give him rest! "Yet still the nightly spear and shield "The Elfin Warrior doth wield, "Upon the brown hill's breast; "And many a knight hath proved his chance, "In the charm'd ring to break a lance, "But all have foully sped; "Save two, as legends tell, and they "Were Wallace wight, and Gilbert Hay. "Gentles, my tale is said." XXVI. The quaighs* were deep, the liquor strong, And on the tale the yeoman throng Had made a comment sage and long, But Marmion gave a sign: And, with their lord, the squires retire; The rest, around the hostel fire, Their drowsy limbs recline; * A wooden cup, composed of stayes hooped together. |