Have been the minstrel's loved resort.

Oft have I traced, within thy fort,

Of mouldering shields the mystic sense,

Scutcheons of honour, or pretence,

Quarter'd in old armorial sort,

Remains of rude magnificence.

Nor wholly yet hath time defaced
Thy lordly gallery fair;

Nor yet the stony cord unbraced,

Whose twisted notes, with roses laced,

Adorn thy ruin'd stair.

Still rises unimpair'd, below,

The court-yard's graceful portico;

Above its cornice, row and row

Of fair hewn facets richly show
Their pointed diamond form,
Though there but houseless cattle

To shield them from the storm.

go,

And, shuddering, still may we explore,

Where oft whilome were captives pent,

The darkness of thy Massy More ;*

Or, from thy grass-grown battlement,

May trace, in undulating line,

The sluggish mazes of the Tyne.

XII.

Another aspect Crichtoun show'd,

As through its portal Marmion rode;
But yet 'twas melancholy state
Receiv'd him at the outer gate;

For none were in the Castle then,

But women, boys, or aged men.

With eyes scarce dried, the sorrowing dame,

To welcome noble Marmion, came;

Her son, a stripling twelve years old,

Proffer'd the Baron's rein to hold;

For each man that could draw a sword

Had march'd that morning with their lord,

* The pit, or prison vault. See Note.

Earl Adam Hepburn, he who died
On Flodden, by his sovereign's side.
Long may his Lady look in vain!

She ne'er shall see his gallant train
Come sweeping back through Crichtoun-Dean.
"Twas a brave race, before the name

Of hated Bothwell stain'd their fame.

XIII.

And here two days did Marmion rest,
With every rite that honour claims,

Attended as the King's own guest ;

Such the command of Royal James,
Who marshall'd then his land's array,
Upon the Borough-moor that lay.
Perchance he would not foeman's eye
Upon his gathering host should pry,
Till full prepared was every band

To march against the English land.

Here while they dwelt, did Lindesay's wit

Oft cheer the Baron's moodier fit ;

And, in his turn, he knew to prize

Lord Marmion's powerful mind, and wise,

Train'd in the lore of Rome and Greece,

And policies of war and peace.

XIV.

It chanced, as fell the second night,

That on the battlements they walk'd,

And, by the slowly fading light,

Of varying topics talk'd;

And, unaware, the Herald-bard

Said, Marmion might his toil have spared,

In travelling so far;

For that a messenger from heaven

In vain to James had counsel given

Against the English war:

And, closer question'd, thus he told
A tale, which chronicles of old

In Scottish story have enroll'd:

XV.

Sir David Lindesay's Tale.

"Of all the palaces so fair,

"Built for the royal dwelling,

"In Scotland, far beyond compare

"Linlithgow is excelling;

"And in its park, in jovial June,
"How sweet the merry linnet's tune,

"How blithe the blackbird's lay!

"The wild buck bells* from ferny brake,

"The coot dives merry on the lake,

"The saddest heart might pleasure take

"To see all nature gay.

"But June is to our Sovereign dear

"The heaviest month in all the year:

"Too well his cause of grief you know,— "June saw his father's overthrow.

* An ancient word for the cry of deer.-See Note.